You're My One Day
by CornflakeCrunch
Summary: James and Lily are one of those great love stories that you either have or look for your whole life. A look at their relationship as well as their friendships with the Marauders and various other characters. Through 7th Year, their Marriage, the First Wizarding War and consequently their death. [Regular Updates]
1. Mile-High Tents

**A/N: **I spent an entire hour writing this chapter only to close the page the moment it was finished. So this is me rewriting the entire thing from memory. Will include mainly the relationships between James and Lily and the Marauders with their significant others. I will stick to canon like white on rice until the need arises for something a little different.

Disclaimer: Of course this is all originally created by the Queen: JK Rowling. I do not own any of this, neither do I claim to or ever dream to. But if you steal my fic I will curse you into oblivion. Also the Fanart is not by me.

This is a very short chapter as far as I can tell but it's a test run so we shall see.

James & Lily

Sirius & Various & Amalthea Marie (made up character)

Remus & Character

Peter & We'll see if I'm feeling charitable to write some love up for him

* * *

James Potter looked at her from across the classroom. Her red hair glinted in the afternoon sun as though filled with tiny, golden sparkles. He knew he was meant to be taking notes, but he couldn't for the life of him bring himself to tear his eyes away from her hair, or her for that matter.

"Prongs?" came Sirius voice.

"What?" James replied, annoyed at the disruption from his habitual staring at Lily Evans.

"Nice tent," he said far more loudly than necessary.

He could practically hear the cricks in his classmates' necks as they turned to observe the source of this "tent". Even James himself felt himself look around searching for the whereabouts of a tent, although he soon realised it was just another of Sirius's jokes as he couldn't locate any tents in his vicinity...of _any _sort.

"You are such a berk," James muttered, scowling at his best friend and then flashed a grin at his audience, not unaware of Lily Evans' face among the sea of starers giving a stare equalling the one he had been so intensely busy at only a few minutes before. Her emerald eyes were alight with laughter, the ends of her blazing hair softly brushing the surface of her desk as she turned to look at him.

"As I was saying," came Professor McGonagall's firm voice, "your essays on the properties of transfiguring inanimate objects to animate objects and the problems that may arise are due on the 25th and" her voice grew louder as the bell rang, "remember that these will be graded according to NEWTs standards. And I would like to see Mr Potter and Mr Black at my desk for a moment."

James felt his shoulders droop and heard Sirius's snort of laughter. He packed his things and quickly glanced at the doorway to see if he could catch one last look at Lily but felt his disappointment added to as all he saw were the backs of classmates trying to get out of the classroom as quickly as possible and effectively blocking his view of the precious creature he so wished he could see.

He and Sirius spent a tedious couple of minutes listening to McGonagall give her weekly warning about the approaching NEWTs and reminders of how it was essential, especially in James' case as Head Boy to keep focus in class. Nothing they hadn't heard before or been reminded of by just about ever professor at Hogwarts, often more than once a day.

"...And for the love of Merlin, Potter, do something about that hair of yours." McGonagall ended off, giving James' untidy, black hair a disapproving look over her spectacles, "Stop trying to turn it into a bird's nest."

"Yes, Professor," James said nodding as Sirius smirked and they left, making their way towards the Gryffindor tower.

"What the hell?" James demanded as they walked hurriedly through the corridor and, forgetting the promise he had made not more than 5 minutes ago to McGonagall, ran his hand through his hair.

"I was just having a laugh," Sirius replied lightly, his voice still filled with laughter.

"Well, next time could you try doing it a bit more silently?" James said, frustrated, "I mean, Lily and I have only just become proper friends, and it's enough that she knows I fancy her, let alone that I-"

"Construct mile-high tents for her?" Sirius suggested, his laugh filling the corridor.

"Bloody hell, Sirius, do you take anything seriously?" James said loudly, not at all trying to hide the rising anger in his voice.

"You would think so, considering what his name is, but I guess you just can't teach an old dog new tricks," came Lily's voice as she joined them, the level of laughter in her voice matched that of Sirius'.

The comment Lily had just made unknowingly referenced Sirius and resulted in a loud bark of laughter from him and even James managed a chuckle as he hurriedly pushed a hand through his hair again at the sight of her. She frowned but the laughter in her voice wasn't affected, although James sensed something different in her tone when she spoke again.

"So what happened back there, Potter? Got a look too far up Belby's skirt?" she pressed him, the "something-different" becoming obviously loud.

"Oh but Evans, you know she's not the one who catches my fancy," James said and grasped one of Lily's hands, holding it firmly in both of his.

The action wasn't any different from his usual playful advances, but he couldn't help but feel his heart shudder and noted, happily, that Lily's posture had stiffened at his touch. Her voice wavered slightly but it grew in confidence as she spoke.

"So, are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" she asked.

"Well well well, Evans, how the tables have turned." Sirius remarked as they turned a corner.

"Are you asking me on a date?" James asked, grinning cockily and raising an eyebrow.

"I'm only asking for Amalthea," Lily said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Ah, Marie," Sirius said, feigning a dreamy expression, "The legs on that bird." James knew that Sirius had been eyeing Lily's friend, Amalthea Marie, for a couple of months now, but he also knew that it would end with one or two sessions in a broom cupboard somewhere and then they would both go back to being barely acquainted.

"Yeah, well she practically says the same of you every chance she gets," Lily continued, "So do us all a favour and give her a good shag so we can all get on with our lives." They all laughed at Lily's random statement and although James was used to outbursts of the sort from her, it still made him excited to hear her talk about things like those.

"I'll do my best," Sirius winked and patted Lily heavily on the shoulder. They were now in front of the tapestry which lead to the Gryffindor common room.

"Er...yeah," James said to the painting of the Fat Lady who glared at them reproachfully waiting for the password.

"Really? I thought Head Boy was meant to know these things," Lily said sighing in false disappointment, "_Fugacious beauty_," she added, giving the password.

"And have I told you what a fugacious beauty you are?" James asked Lily, grinning, as they stepped through the hole behind the painting.

"I should hope not," Lily said looking at him and smiling with a mischievous look in her eye, "Seeing as fugacious means 'fleeting'."

James' smile faltered and he felt his confidence dwindle momentarily, "Oh, I meant-"

"It's the thought that counts," Lily said, smirking, and then she stood on the tips of her toes and kissed James on the cheek, "See you at dinner."

"Yeah," James tried to pretend he wasn't completely short of breath as he felt his heart in his throat and he watched Lily walk away and disappear up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

"Nice," Sirius said, smacking him on the back of the head as they began walking to their own dorm.

"Yeah," James said in a daze.

They walked into their dormitory and waved lazily at Remus and Peter who had gotten there awhile before them. James threw himself down on his bed, loosening his tie.

"Do you think she-" he began but got cut off by Sirius.

"Yes."

"But-"

"Yes."

"How do you-"

"Prongs, the bird fancies you, all right? So tell her, snog her, shag her, whatever, so long as I don't have to hear you asking every living soul whether they think Lily Evans fancies you." Sirius said sounding bored.

"Rude," James remarked.

"I think it might be a bit early for shagging," Peter said from his bed.

"Please," Sirius said, propping himself up on his elbow, "He's only been after her for 40 years."

"Yeah, at this rate he'll grow old with his attempts at asking her out rather than her." Remus said grinning and he, Sirius and Peter collapsed in laughter that filled the room

"Thanks, that's very supportive," James said glumly, looking at the canopy of his bed, marvelling at the how the deep red of the hangings matched Lily's hair. _God_, he thought_, everything about her is so...her._

"Prongs, look, I mean, you've already snogged and I mean...look just ask her out all right? You haven't in a while, I bet the answer will be different." Remus said consolingly.

"But...what if she's not ready? What if it's a bad time?" James questioned. It was true, they had snogged, but it had been a year ago, under the mistletoe and they'd never spoken of it. But the other part was also true, he _hadn't_ asked her out in a while, he was trying to give her as much space as possible, he didn't want her to think that he was taking advantage of their friendship, which had only properly began after her falling out with that git, Snape, who had had the nerve to call her a..._Mudblood, _James wrinkled his face in disgust, as much as he loved her, he was sure that the circumstances under which they became friends would have some affect on when they started dating._ If_ they started dating, whenever that was, he would wait. However long that turned out to be.

"Trust me, she spends most of her time talking to me asking me how you are and what you're doing and who you're doing it with." Remus continued.

"Talking to you?" James said, sitting up and looking suspiciously at him across the room.

"Don't get jealous with me," Remus said, ignoring James' look, "We're friends."

"Yeah, yeah," James replied lying back down. He knew he had to do it. He would do it, as much as the thought scared him. As much as the thought made his heart double, triple, quadruple in speed. He needed to do it, and although he was hesitant to admit it, even to himself, he felt that he already knew the answer.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, first chapter rewritten. I'm feeling quite confident about it, I think it turned out okay after the second time writing it. Next chapter we'll see the grand spectacle of the asking out of Lily Evans by James Potter and there might be some...circumstances that arise ;)

Please review...if you want to. And feel free to tell me if you have any suggestions/ideas/anything/compliments/presents you know...things of the sort and I will put them to good use :)

If you read this, well done and thank you so much.

Gallons of love and milk and cookies

-**I**

Also, I am on twitter -** stardustfawkes** and tumblr **BertieBottsLittleBean **


	2. Alone Time

**A/N:** So Chapter 1's feedback was...non existent but I have nothing else to do and I really do wanna write this so I'm just gonna carry on.

* * *

Dinner was never a particularly eventful affair, it never needed to be, because apart from being the last meal of the day, everyone was usually too exhausted to engage in any raucous or notable communication and the energy levels were basically off. However, in James Potter's case, all he could feel was energy and adrenaline coursing through his body as he tried to eat his pork chops and taste anything but cardboard. The prospect of asking Lily Evans out was drawing closer, he planned to corner her after dinner, and although he had done it probably a hundred times before, he couldn't quite relish the thought and felt he would much rather vomit and then crawl into bed forever instead of doing the thing he had been planning for years.

"Oh buck up, Prongs," said Sirius, leaning over and stealing the remnants of James' meal.

"Shut it," James replied, shoving Sirius and taking back his pork chops.

Sirius sighed and shook his head at Remus then turned to James and said, "It's not like you've never done it before, it's not that difficult."

"Yeah? And you would know because?" James asked, eyeing Lily wearily. She was laughing at something Amalthea had just said, flashing her pearly white teeth.

"Watch me," Sirius said winking, "Oy, Marie!" Amalthea looked up at him and so did Lily, catching James' eye and grinning (cue an infestation of butterflies in his stomach)

"Yeah?"

"Would you care to accompany me to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Sirius asked, and there wasn't a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"With an ugly git like yourself?" she asked, grinning, "Why would I ever?"

"Ah my sweet Marie, you flatter me so," Sirius replied, unperturbed by her reply.

"Well, who am I to resist your charms?" Amalthea continued, "Yeah whatever." And they all turned back to their respective conversations.

"See? How easy was that?" Sirius asked, eating the pork chop he had managed to steal back from James.

"Yeah, Padfoot, I think the circumstances differ a bit," Remus cut in, looking at Sirius and shaking his head, "Don't worry about it, Prongs, really."

"Yeah, and you know this because of the countless times you've asked out the girl of your dreams?" James said staring at his plate.

"James, quit your whining and just go bloody do it so the rest of us can talk about anything other than your problems." Sirius said, looking very bored.

After dinner, while everyone was queueing out of the hall, James and Sirius walked over to Lily and Amalthea, his heart was beating hard and fast, his mouth was dry.

"Amalthea, dear, walk with me." Sirius said, sticking an arm around her shoulders and steering her away from James and Lily who stood waiting in the entrance hall while all the students disappeared in the different directions to their common rooms.

"Hey," James said to Lily, trying very hard not to pass out.

"Hi," she said, "Can we walk or do we have to stand still?"

"Oh, no, yeah I mean, yeah let's go to, er, yeah let's go." he replied and they started walking slowly up the stairs. Lily looked at him, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, there's a definite change in your...demeanour," she said, "Are you about to propose?"

"What?" James stared at her, and the thought of a proposal rendered him even more nervous.

"Nothing," she laughed, "But I assume there's _something_ you have to say. People don't generally stare at me as though I'm about to drop dead."

"Sorry," James said, _Just do it_ he yelled inwardly, _Just say it and stop being awkward, _"Okay so, yeah I just, I wanted to ask, because, you know, I used to but I feel like things have changed between us and -_God_ - you're going to say no but...go out with me?" he blurted out.

"Sorry?" she asked, clearly having heard what he had just said, "I didn't quite catch that?" James felt his heart skip a beat, probably _ten _in this case, she was joking with him, that was a good sign right? _Right?_

"Would you go out with me?" he asked again, trying and failing to slow his words down.

"I don't understand the question?" Lily smiled mischievously, continuing to mock him playfully.

"I-oh _come on_ you know what I'm asking," James said, he didn't care how much she mocked him, just as long as she said yes.

"_Fine,"_ Lily said, smirking at him, "Yeah I'll-" but she stopped short, staring straight ahead, James followed her gaze and saw just the person he would be glad to never lay eyes on again; Snape, who glared at them and turned on his heel to walk in a different direction.

"_That git_," James muttered.

"Whatever," Lily said, clearly annoyed but shaking her head to try and get herself back into the mindset she'd been in before seeing her ex-friend, "Uh, yeah, yeah I'll, uh, 'go out with you' as you so eloquently put it."

_"What?" _James said, sighing with relief, "I- are you serious? You will?"

Lily smiled at him, "Well, I mean, we've been friends for a while now, and I know how you feel and I think I maybe, kind of, sort of...well I think I might feel the same but I'm not going to find out by constantly rejecting you, and..._well,_ rejections are a bit, _last year, _yeah?" she was rambling now, clearly as nervous as James had been, although right now he couldn't quite remember what it felt like to be nervous as his heart was just about to burst with happiness.

"Yeah, yeah, I can't believe this-wait," he said and he held both her arms with his hands to get her to stop walking, "Are you sure?" he asked, looking straight into her eyes.

"You twit," she said, laughing lightly, and then she stood on her tip toes, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lightly, and oh-so-sweetly on the lips. It was strikingly different from their first kiss, a slightly drunk, festive kiss under the mistletoe that, although lasted longer, made no comparison to the one she had just laid on him.

"Oh," he said softly, cueing a look of satisfaction on Lily's face.

"Yeah," she smiled, and then, making her second move of the night, she took his hand, dragging him up the stairs, "We've got rounds remember?" reminding him of the Head Boy duties that awaited him on the fourth floor, and he smiled with the knowledge that pairing prefects together was entirely up to him and meant he was going to spend the next half hour with Lily...alone.

* * *

The alone time James had been so eagerly looking forward to for him and Lily was, not only not an option for them, but they spent almost the entire time getting other students to quit having their own_ alone_ _time_ together.

"Fridays," he said, frustrated, after they finished breaking up the fifth couple they found, two fourth year Ravenclaws being far touchier with each other than James ever remember being at fourteen.

"I'll say, I mean you'd think that after four or more years they'd think of a better place to do...stuff," Lily said loosening her tie.

"You know...we could probably find a better place to do _stuff," _James said, winking at her.

"Well, as...fun, and incredibly romantic that sounds," Lily said, and James could hear the breathlessness of her voice, "We might have a few more stuff-doers to break apart." she said, pointing at the door to a classroom on their left, which they could clear see through the glass, contained a couple.

"Really?" James said to the couple as Lily opened the door, "It's Friday night and you have nothing better to do?"

"Says you," said the boy as he and the girl disentangled themselves from each other and shrugged on their cloaks which gave away that they were both in Hufflepuff.

"Actually, I'm spending the night with my"- James smiled at Lily - "girlfriend, but we don't feel so insecure that we have to snog at every available moment." Lily laughed and shoved James lightly.

"Whatever you say," the girl said as she grabbed her boyfriend's hand and they marched out of the room.

"You know," Lily said, wrapping her arms around his neck for the second time that night and James felt his heart beat as though it were trying to break free from his chest, "We _could_ bear to be just a little insecure." They both laughed and then James put his hands on her waist and made to lean down and press his lips to hers-

"Prongs!" came Sirius's ever present, laughing shout, "And how are the lovers?" he was walking alone and stopped against the wall just outside the classroom they were in to fold his arms and lean against it, smirking.

"Oh _sod off_." Lily said , slammed the door, and stepped up give James another of her soft, fleeting kisses. He smiled at her in the darkness, and he felt that he could happily stay in that dark classroom with her forever, content with the knowledge that he had her and she had him.

"Let's go," she sighed, taking his hand and leading him out the room, stopping momentarily to glare at Sirius who was still laughing, and the three of them made their way back to Gryffindor common room.


	3. Tarts and Wishes

**A/N:** Okay, so since I got more feedback on the first two chapters, and I'm really excited about this I will write and publish this chapter now.

Thank you to **CeiliPotter **for the advice! I will take it to heart and even address it in the chapter! :) And also thank you to my Guest reviewer :)

* * *

James lay awake in his bed that night staring, for the second time that day, at the canopy. His conscience was torn between excitement at having successfully asked Lily Evans out and the worry that he may have acted too quickly and in some way made her uncomfortable. He had never expected to use the term _girlfriend_ loosely with Lily or _at all_ for that matter but there he had stood, at the end of their rounds and called her his girlfriend.

_Damnit_ he thought, sighing and tossing in his sheets, why did he always have to be so cocky, he'd only been working on it for 2 years, trying to get his arrogant self to learn when to shut up._ You're just as bad as Sirius_ he told himself, as his best friend emitted a loud snore. James groaned mentally and closed his eyes, trying to get the worrying out of his mind so that he could sleep, or think about Lily Evans, either one was better, but since the mind doesn't tend to shut up whenever we want it to, the worry continued to circulate and it flashed beneath his closed eyes. The only hope he could cling to was that she hadn't had a bad reaction, well she hadn't had _any _reaction for that matter, she'd just been her usual perfect self.

He sighed again and kicked his blanket off.

"Prongs would you mind not exhaling on full volume?" came Remus's somewhat exasperated voice from his own bed.

James grumbled and then turned so that he could bury his head in his pillow.

"What happened this time?" Remus asked, trying to end his friend's incessant worried sounds, "You said she said yes."

"I called her my girlfriend..." James said and knowing Remus, he knew he wouldn't have to explain himself. Remus always got these types of things.

"And you're worried it's too soon?" he replied, confirming James' assumption.

"Yeah, because it is, and it was my stupid cocky side showing again which I know she hates and..." James trailed off.

"Well what did she say when you said it?" Remus asked.

"Nothing, she didn't really do anything." James replied.

"See, I'm sure she didn't mind, but if it really worries you that much just hold off from saying it again."

"Yeah, I'll do that."

The room was quiet again and temporarily relieved of worry, James felt himself slowly falling asleep just as Sirius spoke up.

"I live with a bunch of girls," followed by a exclamatory "Hey!" from Peter.

* * *

"Should I wear-"

"Yes."

"Or-"

"James I promise you she won't care."

"Fine. Moony?" James asked his other friend and Sirius was clearly set on being as unhelpful as humanly possible.

"The brown one." And James slipped on his brown jacket.

The Marauders bounded down the stairs causing a rather noticeable racket which earned them several stares from the Gryffindors in the common room.

"I know, I'm gorgeous aren't I?" Sirius said to everyone grinning.

Lily walked over with Amalthea and smiled at them, kissing James almost hesitantly on the cheek.

"Ready?" he asked her. Lily nodded, flattening her white, knitted hat over her auburn hair.

Sirius dramatically offered his arm to Amalthea who took it and the 6 of them began the long walk down all the stairs, through the entrance hall, across the grounds and out the gate into Hogsmeade.

The sky was grey and the air was frosty, but neither the Marauders nor the two girls were particularly affected by the weather as they made their way through Hogsmeade, occasionally stopped to look into any shop windows that hadn't been boarded up.

"Damn the war," Amalthea said as they saw Madam Puddifoot's boarded up with cardboard and wooden planks.

"Don't tell me you're upset by that?" Sirius asked her incredulously.

"What?" she said defensively, "She made really good tarts."

"You're a really good tart." Sirius winked at her which cued a round of groans of disgust out of everyone else.

"Three Broomsticks?" Peter asked trying to steer the conversation away from Sirius and Amalthea's flirtatious remarks to each other.

"Please." Lily said and they all filed into the warm shop and took a booth at the back it was rather crowded and somewhat awkward for Peter and Remus who were the only ones without dates. In fact it was awkward for everyone who wasn't Sirius or Amalthea who seemed to be trying to flirt at maximum potential.

"Could you please not?" James asked as they started kissing loudly, to which Sirius replied "Oh please you wish you could. Oy, Evans do us a favour and shut him up." Which was effective in shutting both Lily and James up as they sat there, faces glowing equally red.

"I think I'm going to go get some work done." Remus said getting up and dropping a few sickles on the table.

"Me too." Peter said, following Remus's lead and James and Lily were left with Sirius and Amalthea who were engaging in a rather disturbing display of public affection.

"Should we-"

"Yes, please." Lily cut James off practically dragging him out of the booth and out into the cold afternoon air.

They walked along the cobbled street, Lily's arm through James' talking about their misfortune at having friends like Sirius and Amalthea and had almost reached the entrance to Hogwarts when a bunch of Slytherins, including Snape walked past them shouting and jeering obscenities at Lily and James.

James made to reach for his wand, expecting them to want to start a duel or a fight and was surprised when they simply walked past, the only curses thrown being verbally and rude.

"What was that about?" James asked turning to watch them walk away.

"I reckon they have other things on their minds." Lily replied grimly, "And you can't just duel Slytherins in the entrance hall."

"Well, I just presumed they were going to start it." James countered.

"Yeah, okay." Lily nodded and they carried on walking, only stopping briefly to give the password to the Fat Lady and then to slump tiredly onto a couch in the common room.

"What do you reckon Voldemort's got them doing?" James asked somewhat randomly and Lily, clearly taken aback by the change of conversation suddenly looked deeply pensive.

"I don't really like to think about it." she told him, although she was at that very moment thinking about it. She was wondering how many people they had killed, how many more people would be killed at the hands of Voldemort and his followers.

"Yeah," James nodded, "It's just...with the Order and everything, I guess we sort of have to."

"I wish the Order didn't exist,"

"What?"

"I mean, I wish there wasn't a need for it to exist. I wish there wasn't a war, I wish their weren't Death Eaters, I wish Voldemort was gone." Lily said, her voice growing louder and more distressed and she went on, "What more could he possibly do? He's destroyed just about every Wizarding family, not to mention countless Muggle families, all for what? What does he even want?"

"Power," James replied, "People will do almost anything to get the upper-hand. That's why Purebloods think they're so special, they have power and too much of it in the wrong hands...well, we can see where that gets troublesome."

Lily folded her arms and pulled her knees up in front of her, "I'm sick of it."

"I know," James said and turned so that he was facing her, "So am I." He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and breaking the hard, angry expression on her face, Lily gave him a small smile.

"Thank you," James said.

"For what?" she asked.

"For saying yes." he replied and Lily laughed softly.

"I didn't do it as a favour, I meant it."

"Well, I'm really glad you did." James told her and kissed her on the forehead, his heart in his throat.

And as they sat together, James marvelled at how happy he really was to finally be with her.

* * *

**A/N:** Aw, some fluff right there at the end, did you see it? It was quite small so eh, anyway, they're basically already at the beginning of the war and everything as you can see and yes, Slytherins are bad in this but please don't rant about how Slytherins are good and everything because trust me, _I know, _I was sorted into Slytherin and it's my house too and I love it dearly.

Please please please review if you liked it.

Lots of love and a roast chicken,

-**I**


	4. Interruptions

**A/N:** So, yeah, here's Chapter 4

* * *

"Two Muggles found dead." Lily read aloud from that day's _Daily Prophet_. She was sitting next to James, her cornflakes going soggy in her forgotten bowl of breakfast as she read the tragedy of the day to the rest of their friends."That's just great." she said, sighing and folding up the newspaper.  
James rubbed her back, "I know."

"God, do they have nothing better to do?" Lily said, resting her elbows on the table and placing her chin in her hands.

"Please," said Sirius, "if they did, we wouldn't know about it; the Ministry spends half of their working hours ensuring nothing too harsh somehow leaks into the _Prophet_ and tarnishes the safety and happiness of the ever wonderful environment." He was sitting across from them next to Amalthea, with Peter and Remus on either side of them.

"We're practically in the middle of a war and they still refuse to acknowledge it." Lily said crossly.

"They're scared; there's never been a threat as great as Voldemort before," Remus said, reaching for more bacon.

"Well, I mean, it's not as though nothing is being done. There's the Order-" James tried to comfort her but was promptly cut off.

"The Order," Lily said, the faintest hint of a sneer mingling with her anger, "Comprised of a bunch of seventeen-year-olds and Dumbledore, yeah that's really comforting." she got up, slung her bag-strap over her shoulder and gave them some excuse about getting to class early.

James and Sirius shared a sad look which James knew he was receiving from the rest of the Marauders as well, then looking in the direction Lily was walking away in, he got up and said "I should probably..."

"Yep." Peter said, looking into his bowl of porridge.

"Hey! Lily! _Hey!"_ James hurried to catch up with her as she had already made her way into the Entrance Hall which was deserted.

"James..." she said, and he thought he detected the faintest shimmer of tears in her eyes. It killed him to see her so upset, he knew her for the strong, fierce girl that he had fallen in love with and when she cried all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and hold her until she was better, and at that moment he did just that, pressing his cheek to her hair, he breathed in the lavender scent of it. Her body was stiff but relaxed slightly as he hugged her.

"It's just," she said, her voice muffled against his shirt and he pulled away, holding her at arm's length and looking her in the eyes, "It's a war, you know? And I don't know how many people we're going to lose and what if...if _we're_ part of those, and I'm worried about my parents and-" she gave a unsteady, humourless laugh "-this stupid essay for Flitwick, which doesn't even compare to all the other stuff but-"

"I know, okay? I get it, but, we're...I mean we're going to be okay, and we're going to fight and I'm not going to let anything happen to you, or your parents," he held her face in his hands, "And the essay...I can help you with it, really, don't let it worry you." he kissed her forehead, but as sweet and innocent as the act had been, his heart hammered.

"Okay," she breathed, and she wrapped her own arms around his waist and pressed her head against his chest.

"And Lil?"

"Yeah?"

"It's Saturday, you don't have class." She laughed and then, slowly, she transferred her arms from around his waist to around his neck and kissed him.  
Fireworks and stars and lights danced around in James' head as they kissed, it was different to their first two, longer and deeper. James put his hands on her waist as her own pulled his neck down urgently and then, suddenly, she just stopped, her head turning quickly to their left where the open door leading into the Great Hall still filled with students, stood. He followed her eyes and saw him standing there. Snape.  
James' eyes narrowed as Lily's ex-best-friend gave them both a look of deepest loathing.

"Mudblood and Pure-blood," he sneered, "You both disgust me." James' body tensed as he made to grab his wand, but Lily acted quickly, placing her hand on his.

"Don't," she pleaded quietly, "He's not worth it."

"Is that what you think," Snape said, taking a step towards them, his own hand reaching into his pocket for his wand which he pointed at them, James mirrored his action and pointed his own wand at Snape.

"Snape, Potter, Evans!" came a sharp voice from the staircase, James turned his head slightly and almost sighed with relief when he saw it belonged to Professor McGonagall, "Would you care to explain what exactly it is that you are doing?" she started descending the stairs.

"I-nothing, nothing, really, Professor, it's nothing," Lily told her.

"Mr Snape? What is it you are doing with your wand out?" she ignored her.

"Nothing." he glared up at her.

"10 Points from Slytherin and Gryffindor," McGonagall said, and several rubies and emeralds flew upwards, respectively from Gryffindor and Slytherin in the hourglasses behind her.

"What? No but-" James exclaimed angrily.

"No buts, Mr Potter, fighting is not permitted in this school, and as clearly evident, the two of you were about to commence just that."

James angrily shoved his wand back into his pocket, "Fine, but when someone realises that there is a war going on, fighting won't seem such a big problem." He grabbed Lily's hand and together they marched up the stairs, passing McGonagall and leaving Snape glaring at them.

A few minutes later they were back in the Gryffindor Common Room, sitting on one of the couches in front of the fire.

"I hate Snape. And I hate McGonagall." Lily said, breaking the silence that had been growing louder.

"Forget them." James turned to face Lily, "We were having such a good time before them." he twirled a strand of hair in his fingers.

She smiled slightly but continued, "It's just...it's been two years and the sight of him still makes me want to hurl hexes at him."

"Well, I'd have to say he deserves it. I mean, he called you a...a-" James couldn't bring himself to say it.

"I never thought it mattered that much to him, I mean I knew he thought about it a lot but...it's quite hypocritical of him to be honest."

"What?"

"Well, he acts like he's all Pure-blooded-" James tried to protest but Lily continued, "he's a half-blood. It doesn't mean anything, it doesn't matter, but technically speaking he is."

"Are you serious?" James asked, shocked. He had never properly considered Severus Snape but he had always imagined him as a Pure-blood, the way he acted.

"It doesn't matter." Lily told him firmly.

"Yeah, you're right." James replied, but stored the information away for safekeeping.

"What were you saying about...before them." Lily turned so that she was face-to-face with James and put her hand on his shoulder.

James smirked, "Why, Miss Evans, I do believe you wish to kiss me."

"Oh shut up," she laughed and James thought he could almost feel himself falling more in love with her and he leaned forward and then they were kissing.

His hands tangled in her soft, lavender-smelling hair as both of hers gripped the base of his neck.

"All right, that's enough," came Sirius's voice. For the second time that day, James was forced to break away from Lily and his anger showed as he glared at his best friend.

"I hate you," he said, as Sirius plopped himself down between James and Lily.

"Lily, dorm, now." Amalthea said pulling Lily up off the couch by her wrist.

"Is what Prongs wants to say to Evans." Sirius said, roughly messing up James' hair.

"Tosser," James said, shoving Sirius off the couch. As Lily and Amalthea headed off to the girls' dormitories, Peter and Remus settled themselves onto the carpet in front of the fire.

"Full moon tonight-" Remus said.

James groaned inwardly, "Yeah, right, I'll be there."

"-Actually I was going to say that you could stay with Lily if you wanted to,"

"Wait, what?" James sat up.

"Yeah, I know you two need some time to be together, what with all the work and _interruptions-" _everyone looked at Sirius "and, honestly I would be okay with it if you skipped tonight."

"But-Moony are you sure?" James asked.

"Absolutely, in fact you're not allowed to come," Remus smiled.

"Oh I could kiss you!" James said laughing.

"Please don't." Remus and the rest of the Marauders laughed.

"Yeah save that for Lily!" Peter gasped.

"Oh you know it." James said and stretched out on the couch, his heart light at the prospect of spending the evening with Lily.

* * *

"Okay, now I'll just read through it and then we're free to do whatever we like," James said, taking Lily's completed Charms essay. They were sitting in the Library. It was 8:00PM and the other three Marauders had left about two hours ago for the Shrieking Shack.

Lily sat, playing with the feather of her quill as James read her essay. She kept glancing at him, revelling in how lucky she was to have such an amazing boyfriend. His jet black hair was messy as always and shining from the light of the small lantern on the desk they were working at. His hazel eyes scanned over Lily's small, neat handwriting. They were holding hands under the table and Lily loved the feeling of his rough skin against her own. She leaned over and kissed him playfully on the cheek.

"Stop," he said smiling and glancing at her.

"Are you sure that's what you meant?" she said as she brushed the soft tip of her quill down the side of his neck and she felt his hand tighten around hers.  
He tossed the essay onto the desk and said "There's always Sunday." then turned and kissed Lily, his third attempt of the day was, predictably, interrupted.

"Out!" Madam Pince said unorthodoxly loudly as she appeared, almost out of thin air, behind them. They stuffed their books into their bags and then, grabbing Lily's hand, James almost ran out of the Library.

Together they ran, for no real reason, through corridor after corridor until they reached one they knew to be usually deserted and James tried, for the fourth time that day to kiss Lily, and at long last they had no interruptions; no Snape, no Sirius and no Madam Pince.

James pulled Lily closer to himself as her hands pulled softly but urgently through his hair and made the welcome change from himself messing it up. He felt her mouth against his; her small, warm mouth which was fighting to establish dominance over his as his tongue traced her bottom lip and his heart tried to beat itself out of his ribcage. They took 2 second breaks in which to breathe, those two seconds felt more like 2 hours which were then desperately ended with the clash of mouth against mouth.

James pushed Lily against a tapestry, pinning her arms to her sides, he kissed her neck as her breathing quickened and ended on a gasp when his teeth grazed her. She slipped her arms out from his and switched their positions so that he was the one pressed against the wall and she was kissing the place his jaw met his neck.

"You're amazing." he breathed.

"I know." she said softly, smiling mischievously, then she kissed him on the ear and slipped her hand into his. Recognising this as the end of their time, James leant to pick up his bag and then, together, they walked back to their dorm together, satisfied with the night's events, talking lightly about things that didn't matter but knowing, deep in their hearts, that things wouldn't always be this way.


	5. It Begins

**A/N:** I've been looking forward to writing this chapter all week and now, finally, I have finished my History project and am here ready to write til' my fingers fall off.  
Thank you so, so much to ShieldPatronus for the review and all the feedback. Remember how reviews are like porn to writers so please, please let me know if you enjoyed the story, it really brightens up my whole day to see a new review :)

Enjoy!

* * *

The days were flying past, slowing only momentarily to allow small spurts of panic right before essay due dates and daily hours of History of Magic lessons during which everyone could almost swear that time was moving backwards as Professor Binns warbled on about a war everyone could still almost swear they had already listened drowsily to, but that night, the night that marked a week before everyone left for Christmas break, there was another momentary break in the speedy tempo of the week.

James and Lily were sitting at a desk in the Gryffindor Common room working through Transfiguration homework and bickering about the necessary properties for correct transfiguration.

"You have to be able to clearly see the image in your mind." Lily argued as James, ignoring her statement, continued to write out the answer.

"No, you need to have an understanding of what the object is and _then_ you can only transfigure it." he countered, looking at the fresh ink still shining on his parchment, "Trust me, I know."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Lily said, frustrated, "You're going from the former to the latter so you need to have the latter in mind-"

But she was cut off by a deep rumble coursing through the castle that felt as though it was being shaken right at its foundation. Several paintings crashed to the floor, their subjects crying out in shock as the Gryffindors echoed them. Lily and James stared wide-eyed at each other, both terrified at what was happening and each more clueless than the other at what exactly _was _happening. And then it stopped as abruptly as it had begun.

_"All students report to the Great Hall immediately!" _Professor McGonagall's fear-tinged voice pierced the speakers.

"What the bloody hell was that!" Sirius smashed out of the door behind which the boys dormitories were.

"No idea," said James, his voice shaking slightly, he had stood up and was looking out the window, "I can't see anything unusual."

"We should go downstairs," Lily said and looked at the door through which fellow students were already clamouring to climb out through.

After rounding up the rest of the Marauders and Amalthea, James and Lily got themselves out of the common room and down the multiple stairwells. Everyone they passed looking pale as well as several first year Ravenclaws crying and stumbling along.

Once everyone was in the Great Hall and staring up at Professor Dumbledore who himself looked, unreassuringly, worried and the air was thick with tension, the Headmaster spoke.

"The incident we have all just witnessed was an unprovoked attack on the castle. I do not believe in lying to any of you, therefore it is my duty to tell you that it was Voldemort and several of his Death Eaters," -several gasps issued from the students, Professor McGonagall remained tight-lipped beside him- "but, I am happy to tell you that their attempt was unsuccessful and the protective charms are holding well. However, we will be arranging for the Hogwarts Express to run from tomorrow as we conduct a thorough search of the grounds and increase security level."

No one whooped at the prospect of a longer Christmas break, no one made a sound; the idea that Hogwarts was under such danger that students were being sent home was no cause for celebration and inspired only fear.  
Dumbledore read out a list of names, including the Marauders and Lily, of students who were to stay behind and then said "I encourage you all to pack your things and get a good night's rest. Hurry along!"

"What?-" Amalthea began but Lily shook her head.

"Go on," she told her, "I'll come up soon." Amalthea hadn't been a part of the Order and the members had been instructed not to tell anyone until they were told otherwise.

Lily and the Marauders went to sit at the very front of the Gryffindor table and were joined by fellow members of the Order who were also in their house; Alice Doge and her boyfriend Frank Longbottom as well as the Prewett twins, Gideon and Fabian. Several students were also seated at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables but the Slytherin table remained empty.

Dumbledore looked at all of them, his features flooded with dismay, "We have reason to believe that Voldemort has caught wind as to the Order of the Phoenix," -he began to pace, the students turned their heads, followed him as he walked backwards and forwards, "This also gives us reason to believe that he will now be targeting your families."

"No!" James exclaimed, "No! Why would they, our families have nothing to do with this!"

"I know that. We all"-Dumbledore spread his arms indicating the members of the Order in his company-"know that. The Dark Side, however, does not. Besides, if they did; any relation to any form of resistance can be seen as a weakness and as Voldemort is highly skilled in breaking down his opposition, your families are the perfect way to get at you, stop you, slow you down.

"What do we have to do?" Fabian Prewett asked. Lily looked down, she knew what Dumbledore was about to say. He had spoken to her several weeks before to alert her of the possibility of the solution before everyone else.

"There is only one way to ensure their safety, however, you will not be happy-"

"What is it?" Peter said, uncharacteristically fiercely.

"We would suggest wiping their memories and relocating them." Dumbledore said watching everyone intently, clearly ready for the reactions that erupted less than a second later.

"No!" James breathed looking shocked. Lily placed her hand on his and smiled sadly.

"No no no, no way!" Frank Longbottom said, "My mother is a part of the Order for Merlin's sake!"

"That is a slight exception." Dumbledore told him over everyone else's exclaims.

"Where are we supposed to live?!" Reginald Cattermole exclaimed from the Hufflepuff table.

"I have 4 baby brothers and I'm supposed to make them forget me!?" a Ravenclaw seventh year named Oliver Rabnott demanded.

Dumbledore waited patiently while the students yelled and mumbled, several of them either very angry or in tears and when he they had quietened down he started speaking "I understand that this must come as an unwelcome surprise and that this is not something that anyone could ever want to do or witness but I can assure you that when the imminent threat has passed, this will all be undone."

Lupin, who had been silent the entire time spoke up, "Who's going to do it?"

Everyone turned to look at him, everyone with horrified expressions. "You're actually okay with this?" Gideon Prewett asked, fuming.

"Of course I'm not okay with this!" Lupin said, angrily, "But we don't have a choice do we?"

"So we're just going to blindly go along with what Professor Dumbledore says?" Alice Doge said, looking at Dumbledore, "How exactly is this going to help anyway? They probably already know who our parents are."

"That is only a possibility, but the threat is reduced were we to get them out of the country and unaware as to their sons' and daughters'...existences." Dumbledore finished sadly and nodding very slightly in Lily's direction. She knew that her case would be different as she was a Muggle-born. Dumbledore had told her that her parents wouldn't have to completely forget about Lily's existence, only relocated and oblivious to the existence of the Wizarding World. She knew it was better than what other people would be going through but she also knew that making her parents forget what she was, as a witch, would be almost as bad.

"We will be able to wipe their memories for you if you are unwilling to physically do so." Dumbledore told them, again giving Lily a nod. She had already done it. She had considered it for weeks, spoken to Dumbledore every night and spent a lot of time alone, eventually travelling with Dumbledore to London to extract the memories of the Wizarding World from her parents' minds and getting them to move to Spain after assuring them that Lily would be taken care of and doing the same for Lily's older sister, Petunia and her husband Vernon. She hadn't told James or Amalthea, because she couldn't face it herself.

"What do you think of all this?" James asked her, clearly enraged.

"I-I don't know. It seems like the only option." she said quietly. James just stared at her incredulously.

"If you have any questions or would like to discuss it further-"

"Where are we supposed to live?" Sirius interrupted him.

"Your parents' houses of course." Dumbledore said.

"You can't be serious." Sirius replied.

"I most certainly am. If you are unhappy at the prospect, you are welcome to stay at Hogwarts, however, this Christmas Break it might be best for you to return home." Dumbledore told him, "This is not intended to upset anyone, this is being done in the name of safety and the preservation of your families, if there was any other way..." he trailed off and the hall was quiet, "As I said, if you have any other questions, please feel free to come up to my office, otherwise I suggest to you as I did to the rest of the school, pack your things and get a good night's rest."

"Wait," Peter said, "When...when are you going to do it?" Everyone stared at Dumbledore.

"The fellow Auror members of the Order and I would be willing to do it tonight, before you arrive tomorrow." Dumbledore replied.

"So...we don't get to say goodbye?" Alice asked quietly.

"I'm...I'm sorry. It is with deepest regret that we do this, but it would be better to get them safe sooner rather than later." Dumbledore told everyone and Alice got up and walked out, Frank Longbottom following her after a moment.

Dumbledore sighed sadly "We're all in agreement then?" No one said anything and Lily knew it was the only way they could agree, because saying it would be too difficult, as it had been for her. "Very well," Dumbledore said, "Good night."

"Not likely," James muttered standing up and Lily followed suit, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, refusing to cry. She hadn't when she'd wiped her parents' memories, and she didn't plan on it now.

"I'm sorry for you too." he said, holding her close.

"Actually," Lily said, disentangling herself, she took his hands in hers and sat him down next to her on the bench just as the last few students sidled out of the hall and Dumbledore and McGonagall left through a different door to the side of the hall, next to the teachers' table, "I have something to tell you..." And she explained everything; how Dumbledore had told her, how she had thought about it and how it had been the reason she had been so gloomy and quiet and then, still refusing to cry, how she had gone to her parents' house in the middle of the night. James listened intently, the hard expression on his face had softened as he watched her speak and noted how she didn't cry or sound like she was about to, she just sounded deeply and inconsolably sad.

When she had finished he hugged her, "I'm so sorry," he said, rubbing her back, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Dumbledore told me not to," she said, "Not until he was sure the same wouldn't have to be done for everyone's families."

"That man is mental," James said, "Doing this. How can he even be sure it'll work?"

"I don't know," Lily said, "But I trust him."

"Me too."

"I...I don't want to go home," Lily said and for a moment she thought her eyes would betray her and that she would start crying, "It's so empty." She fought through it, persisting and still refusing to cry.

"Stay with me." James said.

"What? No, I couldn't, besides I didn't say that to make you ask me." Lily replied.

"I know that and I'm not asking, I'm telling. Stay with me, Sirius will be there, in fact we'll get all the Marauders, seeing as they're all losing...well, not _losing-_"

"I know," Lily cut him off, "Are you sure though? That's a lot of people to keep in one house."

"Well, it's not exactly...well...a _house_." James said.

"What?" Lily looked at him frowning.

"Sort of a, er, manor." James muttered.

"Oh," Lily said, still frowning, "So...you're rich? Oh God no, no I'm not, I don't care, I mean I don't mind, I didn't even-"

James laughed, cutting her off. "Relax, I know you're not with me for my money, I know it's all about my dashing good looks."

"Shut up!" Lily laughed and James kissed her on the cheek.

"So, you'll stay with me for Christmas?"

"I guess, wait Christmas? You know the break only ends after New Year's right?" Lily said, picturing herself sitting at her dining room table, sipping champagne alone as fireworks exploded outside.

"Evans, I'm not a hotel, you get Christmas and then you're out." James said jokingly and Lily laughed and thought about how even when he was basically losing his family, James still made it a priority to lighten the mood.

"Let's go, yeah?" he asked, getting up again and offering her his hand, Lily took it and they walked back to the Common Room as things outside got worse and worse and neither of them could have any idea that this Christmas was one of their last.

* * *

**A/N**: I'm not sure what just happened. When I sat down to write this, this wasn't what I was planning. Okay, well things happen and yeah...please review if you liked it. **PLEASE REVIEW.**


	6. Home for the Holidays

**A/N: **Hello my little sugar bunnies; I would just like to say thank you for all the views but also, and I'm not trying to be annoying, but could it possibly, potentially, in anyway be acceptable to ask for feedback? Really, any type: review, favourite, follow, tweet whatever. I'm not sure if people actually like the story or if I should carry on writing or what but it would be greatly appreciated.

Enjoy :)

* * *

The populous of Hogwarts, in its entirety, made its way to the Hogsmeade Station the next day; everyone clutching bags and pet cages but lacking the usual haste that accompanied the beginning of Christmas break. The atmosphere was tense and the silence was thick, everyone looked glum and pale; members of the Order of the Phoenix in particular. They had been alerted early that morning at breakfast that their families' memories had been wiped and had been relocated.

Lily Evans had watched as James pushed his bowl of cereal away from himself and did his best to avoid making eye contact with her and she witnessed the rare occurrence of his eyes filling with tears. Sirius, who lived with James and saw Mr and Mrs Potter as his own adoptive parents, simply stared into space the look of sadness plaguing his handsome features. Remus had merely gotten up and left; clearly too upset to continue breakfast and Peter sat and stared at his toast.

Amalthea, who had had no idea of any of the recent happenings gave Lily a questioning look to which Lily shook her head. Dumbledore had still not given any of them any sign that they were allowed to share information on the Order with anyone and, in any case, she didn't feel quite up to rehashing every detail of the last year's involvements with it for Amalthea.

The gravel under everyone's feet as the students arrived, the Hogwarts Express already waiting for them; gleaming in the ten o'clock sunshine.

"Alrigh' firs' years if yeh could please make yer way onto the train firs'," said Mr Hagrid, the Keeper of the Hogwarts grounds. He was a very large man that could take out a grown wizard with a swipe of his hand, but knowing him, with his pink umbrella, it was more likely that he would offer them a cup of tea and a rock cake.

"James! Lily!" he smiled, despite the solemn atmosphere and waved at them. Lily gave him an awkward smile; the only reason he knew their names had been because he had caught them snogging behind the Herbology greenhouses a few weeks back. James smiled weakly as well as he and Lily squeezed themselves against the wall while the First Years shoved passed them and queued at the various entrances into the train.

After about 15 minutes of year after year of students made their way onto the train, Lily, Amalthea and the Marauders got themselves onto it and walked as quickly as they could through the carriages to the end of the train, stopping only briefly to scowl into one filled with seventh year Slytherins including Snape who glared back.  
Once they were all seated, Remus settled himself in a seat next to the window and closed his eyes. "He prefers to sleep on the train. Makes him claustrophobic." James whispered to Lily as she sat down next to him.  
"Really?" Lily replied as she watched the sunlight highlight the age lines that Remus was far too young to have.

The train ride was silent; with Amalthea sitting next to Sirius no one felt it would be appropriate to discuss anything they were feeling as it would only lead to questions they weren't allowed to answer. When they arrived at King's Cross Station they sat, waiting for everyone else to get off until grabbing their bags and stepping onto the platform.

"I wonder where my parents are." Amalthea said, to which the Marauders all shuffled uncomfortably and remained quiet. "Lil, can you see yours?"

"Uh, no, I'm sure they'll be here soon, oh look there they are!" Lily told her, spotting Mr and Mrs Marie heading their way.

"Hi Mum! Hi Dad!" Amalthea called and then rushed forward to hug them both, "I'm just going to say goodbye to my friends, quickly."

"We don't want to rush you but, we really do need to get home as quickly as possible...it's not, well it's not _safe_." Mrs Marie said quietly, looking around.

Amalthea turned away, pretending she hadn't heard but bit her lip worriedly.

"See you soon, yeah?" Sirius asked as she hugged him. The exchange was uncharacteristic of them both but Lily could tell how much Sirius needed it. Amalthea then hugged Lily.

"Just, just be safe, okay?" Amalthea said.

"_Amalthea!" _Mr Marie called, shifting nervously under the weight of his daughter's bags

"Dad! Please!" she said and looked back at Lily, "You can come stay or I'll come stay or something but we must see each other."

"Yeah." Lily said, her voice almost cracking from trying not to cry, she had prepared herself for the possibility that lately, any goodbyes could be last goodbyes. She watched as Amalthea walked away with her parents, stopping only to turn and wave before they disappeared into the wall leading into the real King's Cross station.

"So, what now?" she turned to James.

"We Disapparate." he told her, taking her hand, 'Hold on." Lily struggled to make sure she had a hold of her trunk and her bag, having left her owl, Bernie in the Owlery in Hogwarts. She felt the sickening lurch and then then the sensation of being squeezed through a tube and the relief of breathe as they arrived at their destination. Three loud _cracks!_ behind them as Sirius, Remus and Peter followed them.

"Here we are," James said chucking his bag onto the floor. They were in a kitchen, a very big kitchen, pots and pans lining the shelves and a great wooden table stood in the centre, a bowl of apples in the centre. "Would you like the grand tour?" he asked Lily unenthusiastically.

"Don't worry about it, if there's just a place I could put my bags?" Lily said, she knew he wasn't in the mood to trail through his family home reliving memories of the time his parents still knew who he was.

"Oh yeah sure," he replied and turned to his three friends, "You all know where you sleep, make yourselves at home." Lily followed him out of the kitchen into an enormous entrance hall where a dark, wooden, panelled door stood between two large windows covered with red velvet curtains. They trailed up a grand staircase.

"So, Remus and Peter have their own rooms?" Lily asked as they started the steps to the third storey of the house.

"Yeah, they come stay over a lot so Mum and Dad had extra bedrooms built." he replied

"Woah." Lily said quietly, her parents hadn't been poor but this wealth seemed unparalleled.

"Yeah, they, uh, liked to spend. Here we are." he said as they arrived on the third floor and he lead her into a corridor, their footsteps echoed loudly on the wooden floors. "You can take my room and I'll just stay in their old one."

"Oh, are you sure?" Lily asked as he opened the door into his room. The walls were painted red and plastered with posters of various moving Quidditch players and several of the Marauders. She took particular interest of a small piece of parchment with a small Snitch and her own initials which had been crossed out on it.

"What's that?" she asked, smiling slightly. James gave a nervous laugh.

"Uh, nothing, just...that was fifth year okay!?" Lily laughed and closed the distance between them, hugging him tightly.

"Are you okay?" she asked, rubbing his back.

"I am now."

"Really though, talk to me."

"There's not much to say." he said, sighing.

"I'm sorry, this is all horrible and none of this should be happening." Lily replied.

"It can't happen again," he told her and he held her at arms length, "I'm going to make sure of that. I'm going to fight."

"We are," Lily said, looking him in the eyes, "Together."

"Lily-"

"Don't you dare, I'm fighting together with you, there's no way you can stop me, we're in this together." Lily told him firmly.

"I know you will," he sighed, "Because you're Lily, but, I just...I wish I could keep you safe."

"Just, don't leave me. Don't die." Lily said smiling slightly.

"I won't. I promise." he said and kissed her on the forehead.

* * *

"Right!" Sirius said loudly as he sat down at the kitchen table the following morning where everyone else was seated, sombrely eating breakfast. "We're all upset because our parents have no idea who we are and live in different countries.

"Really? I forgot." James said, sarcastically drinking from his cup of coffee.

"Oh hush now." Sirius said piling toast onto his plate, "It's all very well and we're all very solemn but it's Christmas soon and we have to liven things up a little otherwise we might as well sit in our rooms until we die."

"Okay." Peter said putting his head on his arms as he rested them on the table.

"No, not okay. We have to do something."

"What exactly would you propose?" James asked.

"Yeah, we're not even meant to leave our houses because bloody Voldemort and his friends are running around trying to kill everyone." Lily said.

"Unhelpful." Sirius told her.

"I try," Lily shrugged.

"Besides," Remus glanced around at James, Sirius and Peter "It's the full moon tonight."

"Um...okay," Lily said "I don't see how the moon cycle affects us."

Sirius looked taken aback and glared at James, "You haven't?"

"Shut up." James said through his teeth.

"What?" Lily asked nonplussed, "Are you doing that thing where you all discuss stuff but refuse to tell me?" The Marauders stared at her and she sighed, "I'm taking a shower." she got up and left.

"What the heck!" Sirius said once she had closed the kitchen door behind her.

"Well, I thought it wouldn't make sense to tell her I'm an Animagus because then she would as why and I would have to explain and then Moony might get upset and-"

"I've told you you could tell her." Remus cut James off.

"What's your excuse now?" Peter asked, eyebrows raised.

"We just haven't had a chance or a reason," James said staring intensely at the bowl of apples.

"You...this literally affects you for 12 days out of the year!...Oh wait that's not that much, once a month!" Sirius told him incredulously.

"You don't really have a choice, she'll find out tonight anyway and would you really rather she discovered from hearing howls in the chambers rather than you telling her?" Remus asked, one unfortunate Christmas several years ago had taken place on a full moon and he had been allowed to spend the night in the chambers below the house with the rest of the Marauders.

"I...fine but how am I supposed to?" James asked looking at all his friends for suggestions on how to break it to his girlfriend that he could wilfully turn into a stag and did so once a month.

"I could rat you out." Peter offered and Sirius' bark of laughter echoed off the walls. He pulled out his wand and flicked it at Peter who, in a spark of blue shrank and disappeared into his clothes. James and Sirius roared with laughter and Remus shook his head, sipping his tea.

"What are you laughing at?" Sirius looked at James, pointed his wand at him and the same blue spark shot out and hit James in the chest which was replaced by the chest of a stag with light brown fur and an angry glint in its eye.

"You can't be serious." Remus said, he too was now laughing.

"Oh but I am." Sirius replied and turning his wand on himself, he transformed into the big black dog of his Animagus.

"Dear, dear." Remus said as his best friends squeaked and barked and James crashed into the walls, getting the handles of pots and pans caught on his antlers.

Suddenly the kitchen door opened and Lily walked in momentarily oblivious to the events currently transpiring in front of her, "Hey James where do you keep the-" she was cut off by her own surprise as the previously bustling scene of the kitchen froze, James, in deer form staring directly at Lily, a copper pot still dangling on his left antler. Sirius was standing on the table his tail wagging and Peter was out of sight under the table. Remus' mouth was open, his eyes wide, mirroring Lily's face.

"What's...uh...going on here?" Lily asked eyeing the deer nervously which was giving her a guilty look that reminded her for some reason of James.

"Let's go outside for a moment," Remus said getting up and quickly leading her out of the kitchen.

"What, but, no, I-" Lily struggled against him as he pulled her out the door. There was a crash from inside the kitchen and then after a moment James crashed out of the door.

"We should talk." He said, his hair on end and his shirt on back to front.

"Oh I should think so." Lily said, the look on her eyes showing she was clearly trying to process what was going on and James got the feeling she was about to come to a conclusion.

"Let's go upstairs." He told her and the two of them left as Remus went back into the kitchen and started helping Sirius and Peter, now back to normal, with cleaning up the mess they had made, listening to the occasional yell that then led to a full blown screaming match between James and Lily from upstairs.

"Well, that sounds like it's going well." Sirius said grabbing an apple and sitting down as an "OW!" travelled downwards to the kitchen from upstairs.

"You didn't exactly make it easier." Peter told him as he hung a pot onto a hook on the wall.

"At least it's not Sad City any more," Sirius shrugged. The yelling quietened down and was followed up with Lily throwing open the door to the kitchen, walking calmly in and sitting down at the table.

"Uh, where's James?" Remus asked checking behind her to see if he was following her in.

"Oh he might be asleep for a while." Lily said simply, reaching for an apple.

"Sleep Hex?" Sirius guessed.

"Yep," Lily said and bit into her apple.

"Nice," Sirius laughed and high-fived her.

* * *

James missed the full moon as Sirius, Peter and Remus headed down to the chambers and slept through the next 3 days.  
He woke up on the floor in the third storey corridor with a crick in his neck, the intense need for the bathroom, a raging hunger and green hair.

As he sat at the kitchen table eating an entire roast chicken a few minutes later that he had hastily prepared with his wand, his emerald hair glinting off the candles from the chandelier, Lily glared at him from across the table and Sirius marvelled at his own brilliant abilities at colour-changing charms.

"I undershtand dat you're angry but was da Sleep 'Ex neceshary?" James asked through a mouthful of chicken.

"Yes." Lily replied, "Withhold an integral part of your life from me again and it'll be more than three days." she warned him. "No, actually it's not even that that I'm angry about." she added.

Sirius glanced at her, raising a supercilious eyebrow.

"Do you have any idea how _dangerous _it is to illegally transform yourself into an Animagus?" she questioned him._  
_

James nodded and swallowed, "You think I don't? It was a pretty big decision, Lily, we didn't just say 'Hey, let's become animals!'."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that's what we did." Sirius wondered aloud.

"Yeah..." Peter said unhelpfully.

"Thank you." James glared at them both as Lily narrowed her eyes at him.

"It was for me." Remus said quietly and Lily looked at him, her expression softening.

"I know," she said, "I'm sorry." she whispered almost inaudibly.

Remus shook his head, smiling sadly, "Don't be angry at James, they made the decision so that I wouldn't have to go through it alone, if they hadn't, I'm not sure where I would be today."

Lily looked at James, she wasn't glaring any more, she still felt angry but found it hard to be so furious at such a noble act. "I just, I wish you had told me, but I can understand why you didn't."

James took a bite of chicken, "You couldn't have realised dat before hexing me?"

Lily laughed, "I'm sorry, but hey at least you got a good sleep."

"Meh." James replied dropping a bone onto his plate.

"So...Christmas on Sunday!" Peter said loudly, changing the subject.

"Oh yeah! Wait, what day is it today?" Sirius asked.

"Wednesday." Remus replied.

"So, I should probably find some presents then." Sirius said.

"Blimey I forgot about presents!" James clapped a hand to his forehead.

"We could make them?" Lily suggested and she thought about when, several years ago, her parents had forced her and Petunia to make everyone presents instead of buying them.

"With magic?" James asked.

"Or things around the house." Lily replied.

"Or magic..." James suggested again.

"Well-"

"Magic." James cut her off.

"Fine then!" Lily sighed, "We'll use magic. I'm gonna go make them now though so..."

"What?" James asked.

"She wants us to make them now too." Remus said.

"Oh." James replied, "Why?"

"If you don't make them now you never will." Lily told him.

"Yeah that's true," he said, "Okay then."

"Okay." Lily said and left, making her way to her bedroom (originally James') she racked her brain for ideas for presents. When she got to her room she started scouring the walls for any clues as to what James would like, her eye falling on the parchment upon which he had drawn. She pulled it off the wall, an idea forming in her head, and pulled out her wand.

Five minutes later, she had transfigured the parchment into James' Christmas present. Instead of a small piece of paper, a small silver ring sat in the palm of her hand, on the outer layer a small Snitch was carved and along the inner part the letters _L.E._ were engraved, however, they weren't crossed out as they had been on the parchment.

For Peter, Remus and Sirius, though, Lily had no idea what the give them and wondered whether bars of Honeydukes' chocolate that she had bought several months ago would be sufficient. She pulled three of them out of her trunk and then, remembering the horde of items she had also acquired from Zonko's Joke Shop, she pulled the bag out and started pairing each bar of chocolate with various things from the joke shop.

"Real sentimental." she begrudgingly told herself as she looked at the three packages on her bed. "Oh there's a war going on for Merlin's Sake, this will do." she said aloud.

"So I should expect the finest array of gifts from you?" James asked, smirking as he leaned against the doorway, his arms folded.

"Yeah you should," Lily told him, hastily shoving all four packages into her trunk.

"How's my bed?" He asked her, still smirking.

"Great," she said, looking disapprovingly at him.

"Better with me in it right?" he suggested mockingly.

"For you maybe." Lily said and his confidence faltered momentarily.

"Ah, but I'm not the one that needs pleasing."

"Ha! You think I _need_ pleasing?" Lily raised her eyebrows and folded her own arms.

"Well, I think a lot of things but I know-"

"Nothing?" she asked sweetly.

James, sighed shaking his head, "So willing to dismiss the thing you ache for."

"Cake?" Lily wondered, grinning mischievously, "Are you busy procrastinating so that you won't have to make the presents?"

"What? Psh, no."

"Really?"

"Urgh, fine, it's just so difficult!" he whined, Lily could almost hear his flirtatious self flying out the window.

"Go!" she said firmly.

"But, I have no idea what to-" Lily strode across the room and kissed him, cutting him off.

She broke away, "Now, go!"

"Fine," James said loudly stomping off and Lily smiled as she watched him go.


	7. The Holidays: Part 1

**A/N:** Hello again! Welcome to the Seventh chapter of my Fic. Thank you to the continuous support from **ShieldPatronus** your feedback is always appreciated and this chapter is dedicated to you!  
Seriously though, guys, if you read this and enjoy it please, please, please tell me. I'm writing fics not purely for my own enjoyment or to entertain others but also because I really do need to polish up any skills in writing that I possibly can and the only way I can know if I'm succeeding is through reviews.

Anyway, enjoy :)

* * *

"Sirius," Lily said in annoyance, "Hurry up for Merlin's Sake!" She was leaning against the locked bathroom door with her arms crossed waiting to get ready for bed, a task she could only complete with access to the bathroom. It was Christmas Eve, she had been living in the Potter Manor with the Marauders for a week now and although she had grown used to Sirius' seemingly perpetual time staring at himself in the mirror and making anyone else too lazy to make the trek to one of the many other toilets, all on different floors wait.

"Go to the downstairs bathroom!" he said obnoxiously.

"No!" Lily said banging on the door, "All I need to do is brush my teeth, hurry up!"

"Alright, alright, don't get your knickers in a twist," Sirius said opening the door. Lily rolled her eyes and marched into the bathroom, brushed her teeth and had finished in no less that five minutes.

"Goodnight," she said to Sirius as she walked through the corridor back to her room, stopping only to smile briefly at Peter who was reading in his room. She settled herself in James' bed.

"Lily?"

Lily looked up, James was standing in the doorway. He looked nervous and restless.

"What's wrong?" she asked sitting up and beckoning for him to come sit next to her. James closed the door and sat on his bed.

"I just wanted to talk, you know, about things."

"Okay?" Lily said and eyed him curiously; she'd never seen him looking so uneasy.

"Did you...was it difficult when you had to say goodbye to your, er, parents?" he asked looking down.

"Oh," she understood, he wanted to talk about his feelings; a move James Potter wasn't known for, "Well yeah, of course, but I know they're going to be safe and that's more important."

"I just, I don't know, I'm worried. What if they're not? What if I never see them again?" James wrung his hands and shifted uncomfortably. Lily leaned forward and put her arms around him, she pressed her head to his shoulder. She didn't know what to say, his worries were perfectly reasonable and there was a very big chance that they would happen, all of them. She wanted to tell him the truth because she didn't want to give him false hope but at the same time she could see that he was in no condition to be worried further.

"They can protect themselves," she decided to say, "They're both really powerful."

James sighed sadly and wrapped one arm around Lily. "I know," he said, "I also know that worrying isn't going to help much."

"That's true," Lily said, "All we can do is try and stay safe and do our best to fight back." James held her head in his hands and kissed her forehead.

"I'm tired," he said, resting his cheek on her head, "I should go to sleep."

"Stay here," Lily told him, "Sleep here, with me."

"Are you sure?" James asked her.

"Yes, but just...just_ sleeping_." she said, her eyes growing wide in embarrassment. James laughed.

"I know, I know, don't worry," he chuckled and they both lay back down and pulled the covers over themselves.

Lily lay comfortably with James arms protectively around her and just as she felt herself drifting off to sleep James spoke.

"The light's still on." Lily groaned and opened her eyes to see that, indeed, the candle on the bedside table was still flickering. She grabbed her wand and said "_Aguamenti!" _and felt James' chest heaving with laughter against her back as the thin stream of water missed the flame completely and splattered on the wall.'

"I think you just wet my _Puddlemere United_ poster," he said sounding somewhat disconcerted.

"Shame," Lily muttered and shot more water out of her wand which finally extinguished the candle and the room was engulfed in darkness.

James sighed contentedly, "Goodnight."

"Night," Lily replied softly, her smile concealed in the darkness.

* * *

**25 December 1977**

"Wake up!" Lily yelled jumping on the bed.

"What-" James said groggily opening one eye to the sunlit bedroom.

"Merry Christmas!" Lily said and gave him a mischievous grin, still standing on the bed. He looked up at her in wonder, her red hair was messy and her pyjamas where white with tiny purple sheep spotted all over them.

"Why are there sheep on your pyjamas?" he asked, he felt disorientated, as though he had been Confunded. Lily laughed and hopped down so that she was lying next to him.

"Come on, sleepy!" she said, her green eyes sparkling.

"_You_ come on," James said as things started shifting into perspective, he grabbed her waist and hoisted her up so that she was lying, instead, on top of him.

"Cheeky," Lily told him disapprovingly, but kissed him lightly on the nose and rested her chin on his chest.

"What did you get me?" he asked, closing his eyes.

"A something, but, er, there's something we need to talk about," Lily said, the sparkle gone from her eyes, "You're not gonna like it."

James eyes shot open, "What is it?" he asked, and Lily got up and sat next to him and he sat up himself.

"You know my sister, Petunia?" she began, biting her lip.

"We've never met but yeah," he replied worriedly, his mind jumping from conclusion to conclusion. Had her sister died? Had something happened? He couldn't bare to think how he could possibly comfort Lily after yet another blow to her family life. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Lily told him, refusing to make eye contact and James sighed with relief.

"Well, then yeah, I mean, I've never met her but listening to you and your complaining about her, I sort of feel as though I've been personally annoyed by her," he winked.

"Oh shush," Lily said, rolling her eyes, "Well, she's getting married and the wedding is in two days and I was hoping you would go with me but I didn't want to tell you because I was somewhat hoping you would never meet her because why would anyone want to meet her? I mean, she's my sister and I can barely stand her but yes." she garbled in one breath.

James gave her a look of confusion as he tried to process everything his girlfriend had just said, "Um, yeah, okay sure but...wait wouldn't your sister be in a different country? I mean since the Order's plan to keep our families safe?"

"Ha, well that's the thing about Petunia and her fiancé, they're very...persistent. Besides they know I'm still here." Lily had already explained her situation to James, but she hadn't told him about how Petunia and her fiancé, Vernon were actually still in England, Surrey to be precise and that their memories hadn't been wiped, as Petunia's fear of being in anyway associated with her sister was good enough protection. She was even already going by 'Dursley' as her last name.

"Oh, wow, well yeah, sure I'll go with you then," he replied, frowning, "But why did you think I wouldn't like it?"

"Actually," Lily said looking incredibly interested in the blanket, "There's more, Vernon and Petunia want to have dinner with us tonight."

James' frown deepened, "Okay...?"

"Well, I've told you about how much they hate our world and well, Petunia didn't seem to keen on you either whenever I spoke about you-" Lily's eyes widened.

"What was that?" James asked, his mind furiously calculating the amount of time between asking Lily out and now; October, November, December, and unless Lily had written home, which he doubted, that meant she had spoken about him before they had started going out.

"What? Nothing. Dinner, tonight?" she asked, her cheeks turning the red of her hair as she tried in vain to change the subject.

"We'll discuss dinner later, '_whenever you spoke about me'_? You spoke about me? When?" he asked, his brain whirring with the new information that Lily Evans had liked him for longer than she had let on, and she _spoke about him_. "Wait...how long have you fancied me?" he said suspiciously, "Oh my God, you've been secretly obsessed with me the whole time! I wasn't the one chasing you, you were the one gasping internally with excitement every time I spoke to you!" he teased her, laughing.

"Shut up!" Lily laughed, shoving him, "Literally _none_ of that is true, well, I guess I have fancied you for a while..." she quietened in wonder, trying to remember.

"Ooooh! Tell me!" James shouted and tickled Lily.

"No!" she shrieked and, laughing, tried to push his hands away, "Okay, okay, I'll tell you!" she gasped trying to catch her breath and James stopped at once.

"That day in fifth year? When, that thing with Severus happened?" Lily said, "The first time you asked me out?" Yes, James remembered, that day's events had been permanently etched into his memory.

"Yeah," he told her, "And you turned me down. Quite the disappointment." he told her, winking.

"I'd liked you for a few weeks by then," she said, "But I would _never_ have agreed to go out with you, not as that git."

James raised his eyebrows, "Well, excuse me but...really? You fancied me then?"

"Well...yeah." Lily said and took his hand, tracing her knuckles with her fingers.

"Woah," James said, his eyes were wide as he stared absent-mindedly at the ceiling of his bedroom. Lily chuckled and kissed him. James kissed her back and put one hand in her hair and one on the small of her back as she moved so that she was resting on top of him again. He smiled against her kiss and they stayed in the bed for a while, rolling around and kissing and revelling in each other.

"Oy! Potter!" Sirius's voice travelled from downstairs. Lily and James both sighed and Lily rested her head on his chest.

"We need our own place," James said and Lily laughed, "I'm serious," he said, "After school, we should get our own place."

"Are you-are you asking me to move in with you?" Lily asked looking up at him.

"Yeah, I guess I am." James said, "I mean it's still going to be a year or so but...yeah." They had only been together for 3 months but he felt as though it had been far longer, in his mind they had.

"Hmm," Lily sighed against his chest.

"Is that a yes?" he asked her.

"Ask me again in a year," she told him and leaned up to kiss him again.

"Would the lovers come down and give presents to their friends please?" Sirius bellowed from downstairs.

"I swear, it's like he knows every time we're about to kiss," Lily grumbled getting up. James sighed and nodded, "Oh he does."

"I do!" Sirius' voice said again. And Lily glanced worriedly at the door, frowning with suspicion, then she laughed and shook her head.

"Oh wait!" she called to James just as they were about to leave the room. She hurried to her trunk and pulled out four packages, one slightly smaller and wrapped in red and gold paper. "Here," she said handing him the small present.

"Thanks," he said as he unwrapped it and then a small, silver ring was in his hand, "Oh wow," he said as he held it up to the light and noticed the small Snitch engraved into it.

Lily smiled and said, "Here," and showed him the inside of the band, were the letters _L.E_ had been engraved as well.

"Thank you so much, Lily, it's incredible," he said as he slid the ring onto his middle finger on his right hand, "It looks kind of..."

"Familiar?" Lily guessed, her smile widening, "It's the parchment from your wall, the one with the drawing of a Snitch and my crossed out initials? I transfigured it." she said proudly.

"You're kidding?" he said, impressed, she had clearly put a lot of thought into it and the Transfiguration was impeccable, something which impressed him further as he knew she struggled with it. He wrapped his arms around his sheep-pyjama-clad girlfriend and kissed the top of her head. "You don't know how much it means to me," he said softly into her hair.

"About as much as that parchment meant to me?" Lily asked, "It obviously hurt you to write it, I'm sorry I hurt you, James."

"You could never hurt me," James told her and hugged her more tightly, "Breakfast?"

"Yeah, let's go," Lily said and they linked hands and walked out of his room, "Dinner then?" she reminded him.

James sighed, "Yeah, alright."

* * *

Unwrapping presents had been a stressful affair, Sirius had been extremely fussy about his presents as since they had all been home-made they were all somewhat crude. He had smiled weakly at Lily's Honeydukes chocolate bar and assortment of Filibuster's Fireworks, however that seemed about as good a reaction as anyone could hope for. Everyone else had accepted all their presents with a genuine smile and "Thank you!" and Peter and Remus seemed pleased with their gifts from Lily.

Lily's presents included a star-shaped chocolate from Peter, who explained that he had bought it in Switzerland during the Summer break and that it was never ending, which Lily confirmed to be true after taking a bite only to see the star was still complete with no trace of any bite marks despite the very real chocolate she had bitten off that she was still chewing.

"Thank you so much!" she had said and hugged him after swallowing the chocolate after which Remus gave her his gift; a beautifully patterned Quill, the plume's colours visibly swirling and glimmering in the light, which Lily had just as gratefully thanked him for. When Sirius gave her his gift he shrugged and said "Yeah, I've never been very good at making things."

But Lily got a surprise when she saw the small, lilac shell threaded on a silver thread which she immediately tied around her neck and thanked him profusely. "It's beautiful, Sirius, it really is!" she said and he just smiled and nodded.

The expression on James' face had become more and more frustrated as his friends gave their individual presents to Lily. "What is it?" she asked him quietly while Sirius and Remus tried to transfigure apples into pancakes and Peter made tea.

"I just-you're probably going to like their presents more than mine." he said sighing sadly.

"You really think it matters?" Lily asked shaking her head, "Being with you is enough, really, you could give me an entire mansion for a gift and it wouldn't make me as happy as having you does." she said very quietly as Remus and Sirius rejoiced at the ceiling high pancakes that had replaced the bowl of apples on the table.

Lily's words had had a profound effect on James' mood and he pulled her to himself and kissed her.

"Oy!" Peter yelled, his hands on his hips.

"What now?" James groaned.

"We didn't put up mistletoe for no reason, if you have to do it at least do it under the sprig!" Peter said crossly. James looked up and saw a small branch of roughly cut mistletoe about a foot away from him and Lily. He rolled his eyes, hoisted Lily up and positioned himself so that they were directly beneath the leaves and he kissed her again.

"Alright, break it up," Sirius said as he piled about two feet worth of pancakes onto his plate, poured syrup over them and then lifted one pancake up to his mouth and stuffed it in, repeating this for every single, sheet-thin pancake.

Lily shook her head, laughing and James sighed as they took their seats at the table, James summoned a few pancakes from the top of the pile and put them on a plate for Lily, making to get some more for himself.

"So what are the plans for today?" Remus asked, cutting up a small stack of pancakes.

"I'm cooking." Peter said simply.

"Um...okay den," Sirius said through a mouth full of food, giving his friend a questioning look.

"What? I like cooking," Peter said indignantly.

"Well," said Sirius, swallowing his pancakes, "Amalthea's coming over today, so you all know what my plans are." He winked and lifted another pancake to his mouth.

"Gross," Lily said sprinkling cinnamon on her pancakes, "James and I are going to dinner with my sister and her fiancé." Sirius dropped his pancake.

"Please can I come with!" he said seriously, his eyes wide and genuine.

"Um...why?" Lily asked, giving him a confused look as James shook his head.

"He's heard you talking about this 'Vernon' and wants to meet him for yourself." James explained and Lily frowned but laughed.

"No, I have to meet him for myself. It's vitally important." he tried to convince her.

"Okay, well, no." Lily said rolling her eyes. Sirius stuck out his bottom lip. "No puppy dog eyes, you're not a dog." Lily sighed.

"Right now," Sirius sniggered and high-fived himself. Everyone at the table stared mutely at him.

"Lovely," Remus said lifting his tea cup and drinking.

"Please?" Sirius continued, "Please, please, please?"

"No," Lily told him firmly, "No, no, no."

"Fine." Sirius said simply and went back to eating, Lily gave him a questioning look, she hadn't expected him to give up so easily.

"Oh, he'll be there," James explained, Summoning more pancakes.

"Yes I will." Sirius enunciated each word and stuffed a pancake into his mouth.

Lily sighed and shook her head, "What about you, Remus? What are your plans?"

"Oh, I'll probably just read, I have a few books I'd like to catch up on."

"What you need, my furry friend, is a girlfriend." Sirius told him reprovingly.

"Thank you for your input, Padfoot, I'll be sure to make a note of that." Remus said and sighed.

"Why not?" Lily asked and James hurriedly made a 'stop talking' motion as Remus shrugged, "Oh," she mouthed looking at everyone's faces.

"Yep," Remus mouthed and stared at his pancakes.

"So me and Amalthea," Sirius said abruptly, changing the subject. Everyone groaned as he described, in detail what they would be doing later.

After breakfast, Lily and James helped clear up and then she followed him to his parents' room where he opened a drawer in the dresser and pulled out a flat, cream coloured box.

"I really hope you like it," James told her. Lily took of the cover and smiled. It was a picture encased in a silver frame with metallic flowers curling around the corners, the picture was a moving one of them. They were dancing together, outside as puffs of snow fell in spirals around them. Lily watched her own mahogany hair dance around her as James spun her, she watched the smiles dancing on their lips as they kissed lightly and then carried on dancing, their arms wrapped around each other. It had been several weeks ago, on a Hogsmeade visit; Remus had borrowed Lily's camera and taken the picture of them.

"James," Lily said softly, looking up at him, "This is...this is amazing, thank you!" She said and wrapped her arms around him, the picture still in her hands. She stood on tip toes and kissed him as he put his own arms around her and lifted her slightly off the carpet.

* * *

**A/N:** So, the next chapter will actually be published today as this is just Part 1. Part 2 will include the dinner with James, Lily, Petunia and Vernon as well as the wedding and new year's eve and day.

**Please, please, please review.**


	8. The Holidays: Part 2

**A/N:** I'm not going to start the review story again. If you want to leave one, leave one, if not, well then the hell to me.

Enjoy ;)

* * *

It was 6:02 PM on Christmas day and Lily and James were running late to meet Petunia and Vernon for dinner. The air was ice cold and made their faces pink as they hurried along the one-way, deserted street. They passed houses with smoke swirling from their chimneys and occasionally got glimpses into their front windows; into the lives of the happy families celebrating Christmas together, safe from the biting cold and worries of Wizarding Wars, not a clue who Voldemort was.

"I knew we should have left early," Lily said as she and James fast walked, hand in hand down the street.

"It's just two minutes," James replied rubbing his frozen nose with his free hand.

"Petunia takes offence if you arrive _one_ minute late, two minutes is the equivalent of violently ripping up her neatly arranged flower beds," James gave Lily a questioning look which she ignored and carried on, "Her fiancé is just as bad, when I met him I was wearing a purple pair of pants and the look of disgust," Lily shook her head.

"Sounds charming," James said just as the small restaurant they had agreed to meet in came into view.

"Damnit we didn't bring any flowers!" Lily suddenly realised, stopping and clapping a hand to her head.

"Here," James whipped out his wand and conjured a bouquet of orange roses, "There, orange, that means something like congratulations right?"

"No, I'm pretty sure they signify, like enthusiasm?"

"Really, oh, okay," James waved his wand and the roses turned red, "What about this?"

"Red? That's like...love."

"Purple then?" James turned the roses a bright, unnatural violet.

"Well, not _that_ purple, that's for sure," Lily said eyeing the alien roses, "Oh my God, we don't have time to stand out here discussing the symbolic meaning of the colours of roses just make them yellow!" James quickly transfigured the roses so that they sat palely reflected amongst the bright white of the surrounding snow. Lily opened the door and a bell trilled. Spotting her sister and her large fiancé, Lily clung tightly onto James' hand and waded through the tightly packed tables to where Petunia and Vernon sat.

"Hi!" she said falsely cheerfully at seeing Vernon Dursley. Petunia gave her sister a tight lipped smile and stood to give her a light hug.

"You must be James Potter then," she said eyeing Lily's scruffy-haired boyfriend who gave her a cheeky smile.

"Sure am, and may I just say what an absolute pleasure it is to finally meet you," James shook Petunia's hand, leaving a look of restrained shock on her hard face, "I've heard so much about you."

"All good, I hope?" Petunia said, glancing at Lily who had already awkwardly shaken hands with Vernon and seated herself opposite him.

"Nothing but," James said mischievously and Lily narrowed her eyes. However, James was relatively surprised by Petunia, he had imagined her to look vastly different from her sister but he could see a resemblance; Petunia had her sister's bright green eyes. Petunia was quite pretty, James thought, no where near as beautiful as Lily was but James was sure that Petunia, with her green eyes and blonde hair could certainly do far better than Vernon Dursley, who he had only just taken note of; he was a robust man with hardly any neck but a moustache big enough to make up for it. Vernon stood up to greet James.

"Nice to meet you, er, sir." James said as he shook his hand and noticed that Petunia had gained an incredibly nervous look as she watched her fiancé and her sister's boyfriend meeting.

"Please, call me Vernon," Vernon said stiffly. Once they were all seated they struggled to make conversation. Petunia wanted to talk about the wedding which Lily happily obliged to discuss while all Vernon wanted to talk about was the company he had just been hired at, "Grunnings", and commenting on the delinquency of 'young people today' and James tried not to laugh at everything that came out of his mouth.

"...the position has also allowed me access to the newest model of the company car a-" a car name James couldn't understand, "...how about you? Although, I expect, at your age, you wouldn't have a car," Vernon boasted while Petunia picked at her salad and Lily kicked James under the table, trying to stop him from responding.

"Yeah, my family has several cars. No one in my family needs to drive but, you know, it's more of a collector thing," James said, thinking about the underground garage of his manor where something like 7 particularly impressive cars were parked. Neither of his parents had known how to drive but they had the money and saw no reason why as not to spend it.

Vernon cleared his throat, "Yes well, I have access to the latest model the moment it comes on the market, free of charge."

"Free? Doesn't that somewhat reduce the value?" James wondered aloud as his girlfriend delivered a particularly hard kick to his right shin, but he stayed quiet against the urge to give a cry of pain, he was enjoying himself too much.

Vernon cleared his throat again, "Are you saying I couldn't afford a car?"

"I'm wondering why you would need a free one if you could, in fact, buy one." James replied. Vernon was turning red, clearly getting very angry.

"I don't need to take this," he grumbled, his moustache twitching dangerously.

"I assume you also didn't _need_ to take the free car?" James asked as Lily glared at him.

"That's it!" Vernon shouted and stood up, his chair falling to the floor behind him, "Come, Petunia!" he dropped several bank notes on the table and stormed out, Petunia throwing looks of fury at James as she tottered out behind Vernon.

Lily gave James a deeply anguished look before, uncharacteristically, bursting into tears and James immediately lost the mischievous grin that had been playing on his lips, "Lily, no, I'm sorry, I didn't know you would be so upset!" he tried to console her.

"I'm not upset!" she shot back, her eyes red and filled with tears, "And that's the thing, James, you never think, you just do." The few other customers in the restaurant were now eyeing James and Lily worriedly.

"Come," he said taking her hand, but she didn't take his back so he was stuck holding her hand, curled into a fist as he lead her out of the restaurant and into the cold, winter air.

Lily sighed and wiped her cheeks as the remnants of her tears grew icy. She took a few ragged breaths and then spoke, "This is what Petunia does to me. It was like this when we were younger too; I got into Hogwarts and she didn't and she got really upset, so she always tried to prove that she was better than me, doing everything first. That's why she's marrying Vernon, not because she loves him, because he's the first person who came along and I hate that she feels she has to get married to prove she's better than me. That she has to prove she's better than me to be happy."

"Have you spoken to her about this?" James asked Lily, rubbing her back.

"Of course I have! But she'll have none of it, we haven't had a proper conversation since we were young. She won't take anything I say to heart. I don't matter to her and if I do it's only to prove she's worth more."

"To who though? I'm sure she knows your parents love you both equally," James said and Lily laughed shakily.

"To herself. She doesn't care what our parents think, it's all about herself."

"I'm sorry," James said softly, "I'm sorry you have to deal with this."

"You didn't exactly help back there," she said angrily.

"I know, I'm really sorry. If I had known how you felt..."

"Yeah," Lily breathed looking up at the sky. It was getting dark now and stars were starting to shine weakly. "We should go," she said, "It isn't safe."

"You're right," James said and made sure he was holding her hand tightly before turning on the spot and Disapparating.

James and Lily reappeared in the Potter Manor kitchen a moment later to find Remus and Peter sitting at the table, both reading large books.

"Where's Sirius?" Lily asked wiping her face on her sleeve and sitting down. Remus indicated upwards with his eyes and she got it; Amalthea had arrived two hours before James and Lily had left for dinner and she and Sirius had gotten busy almost immediately.

"They've been up there for hours," Peter said throwing a worried look up at the ceiling. James chuckled and sat down next to Lily.

"That's our Padfoot."

* * *

"You look fine! Stop fussing." Lily said as James kept trying to untie and retie his tie. They were both getting ready for Vernon and Petunia's wedding. Lily wore a dark, smoke coloured dress particularly as she knew Petunia would disprove. She had already let James known how completely Petunia had refused to have her own sister as her bridesmaid and Lily, who skipped over how upset it had actually made her, was doing everything she could to make sure Petunia paid the price.

"You look _fine_," James said eyeing Lily who was fastening a black rose into her long hair which she had temporarily dyed magenta so as to further distress her sister, "Although I don't quite get the purple hair but I do like it."

"Petunia won't, that's the important part," Lily said as she applied heavy, black eye-liner, "Hopefully it will rain so that I get the full Alice Cooper look, Petunia hates him." James frowned, he had no idea who or what Lily was talking about but decided against questioning her in her current state of mind.

"Let's go then," Lily said grabbing the black-wrapped wedding present (a collection of gemstones in a black box decorated with magic symbols which Lily knew Petunia would find particularly satanic) for Petunia and Vernon and linking her arm with James'. They Disapparated and reappeared in the car park of the church in which the wedding would take place, Lily made to start walking up the front steps.

"Um..." James said.

"What?" Lily asked turning around.

"Well...aren't we"-he checked his watch-"very late? Also, I'm not sure you'll be able to get through the door without bursting into flames." Lily gave him a questioning look. "It's just...well, love, I don't mean to anger you but...your choice of _look_ might have connotations with...well, Lucifer."

"Did you just compare me with the Devil?" Lily asked, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"I-no. What? No." James said hastily.

"Good, and we're late for a reason, come," she said grabbing his hand and dragging him to the top of the stairs. She grinned at him and then threw open the double doors to the chapel and stepped in, with James watching her closely; genuinely expecting some sort of reaction from above. _Huh, _he thought, _So He doesn't exist._ He followed his deranged girlfriend through the foyer and then stood behind her as she, again, threw open the doors. The reactions from inside the church were obviously exactly what Lily had wanted as she grinned as her sister glared at her from the front where she stood, in her wedding dress next to Vernon. They were clearly in the middle of the ceremony.

James and Lily sat at the back while the ceremony continued; Lily emitted regular, loud sighs of boredom which caused all the wedding guests to turn around and give her reproving looks with which James countered apologetic smiles. After the ceremony he followed Lily as they went into the reception which was in the garden of the church. Petunia marched over to her sister, looking strangely angelic besides her grey clad, purple-haired sister.

"_What the hell_?" Petunia hissed.

"What?" Lily shrugged as she handed the present to her sister who grabbed it and gave her a scathing look before hurrying away.

"How about we go sit down," James asked Lily nervously, heading over to the seating chart to look for their names.

"Oh my God; she stuck us with her school 'friends'"-Lily made quotation marks in the air-"she always hated them." she said and pulled James to the table with a card with the number "9" upon it.

"Lily? Lily Evans?" a black-haired woman with bright red lipstick said. Lily raised her eyebrows.

"Yes?" she asked.

"It's me! Victoria Greenely!" the woman said and Lily shrugged.

"Sorry," she said to the woman.

"Oh well, I'm not surprised you don't remember me. I used to be best friends with Petunia, I spent so much time at your house, but then that was a very long time ago; you're so big now! How old are you?" the woman said.

"Seventeen..." Lily said, clearly annoyed that this woman was treating her like a child.

"Wow! I always thought you would come to the same school as Petunia but I never saw you..." the woman carried on, oblivious to Lily's annoyance at her.

"Yeah, I, uh, went to a boarding school," Lily told her glancing at James and shrugging.

"And who is this!" the woman exclaimed, noticing James and eyeing him interestedly.

"This is my boyfriend, James," Lily said getting more and more irritated.

"Let's dance, shall we?" James said sensing the tension and jumping up.

"Yes," Lily said, getting up and leading him away from the table. Some slow song was playing and James wrapped his arms around Lily's waist as they danced slowly amongst the other couples of which Petunia and Vernon were not included. Lily could see Petunia over James' shoulder, sipping champagne with several very prim and properly dressed woman, the look of tight-lipped contempt a constant factor amongst each of them.

Alternately, over Lily's shoulder, James could see Vernon standing with several other large men beside the bar and he could hear what they were saying.

"...quite an odd looking girl that one, with the purple hair," one of them said, obviously about Lily, and James pulled her protectively closer to himself.

"Ah yes, Petunia's sister, nasty business; her and her friend." Vernon nodded disdainfully.

"And what does he do?" a man larger than even Vernon himself asked.

"Oh, nothing really, some magician of a sort," Vernon replied nonchalantly and James scowled.

"This music is seriously depressing," Lily muttered and marched up to the band and said something to them and, as she walked back to him, they started playing a far more upbeat song. "Where would we be without The Beatles?" Lily said loudly over the music and James shook his head and shrugged; he genuinely had no idea what she was talking about but he enjoyed the few seconds that he and Lily had as they danced to the music.

"You!" Petunia shrieked as she made her way to Lily and James clutching fistfuls of her skirts, Lily turned to face her with her arms folded, "You did this!"

"So?" Lily said, "Sorry for wanting to get some life into the party."

"Leave!" Petunia said trying to quieten her voice to avoid embarrassment amongst her guests.

"Gladly," Lily said, grabbed James hand and walked over to the garden gate.

"Hold on," James said, reaching into his pocket for his wand.

"What?" Lily asked, eyes widening as he pointed his wand at Vernon and muttered something below his breath, suddenly cries and yells of fright filled the air and although Lily struggled to see past all the guests, when she looked at Vernon she could clearly see that his moustache had turned into a large caterpillar and crawled of his face and onto his shoulder. Lily was overcome with a fit of giggles and she and James ran into the parking lot together, their laughs echoing in the early evening as they Disapparated.

* * *

"1977 was a good year," Lily said as she and the Marauders sat on the roof and watched fireworks dance and sizzle in the velvety blackness of the night, it was 11:30PM on the 31st of December, "Star Wars, The Clash, the Ramones" she counted on her fingers.

"What are you on about?" James asked her; he reckoned she must have been referring to some sort of Muggle thing but he had no idea what. Lily sighed, she was lying next to him with her arm across him, her head on his chest.

"You don't know what Star Wars is?" Lily asked disbelievingly, "Remind me again why I'm with you."

"Burn," Sirius muttered and Peter snickered.

"Oh please, it's not as though either of you know what I'm talking about either," Lily said.

"Uncultured swines," Remus said jokingly and he and Lily laughed.

"Oh, Moony, at least I have you," Lily giggled, "Seriously though James, remind me to make you watch Star Wars some time; the second one is coming out in 1980 so we can go see that." she told him.

"Uh, alright..." James wondered what she meant by 'see', was it a play?

"Ooh! And then the last one comes out in 1983 so we have to go see that too!" Lily said excitedly.

"Sure," he said and rearranged their blankets so that they were both nestled more warmly against the cold, frosty air.

"New Year's Resolutions anyone?" Sirius said as he opened a packet of chocolates and noisily started eating them.

"I want to learn more recipes," Peter said, "I think I want to become a chef."

"Really?" Remus asked, "That's great. I want to try a become a teacher, maybe get a job at Hogwarts in a few years."

"Yeah I can see that," Sirius said chewing on a hazelnut, "How about you, James? Lily?"

"Something with potions I think," Lily said wonderingly, "Or law, like maybe at the Ministry." James smiled as a red ball flew into the sky, going up, up, up and then exploding in a mess of red and gold sparkles.

"I think I want to be an Auror," James told his friends.

"Really?" Lily tilted her head up so that she could faintly see the outline of his head against the night.

"Yeah," he said, "I like the thought of protecting people, especially the people I love." Lily leaned up and kissed him on the cheek and he grinned.

"Awesome," Sirius breathed and carried on rustling his packet.

"What about you?" James asked him.

"Well I was thinking I would focus mostly on the Order and defeating Voldemort"-everyone's smiles disappeared-"and then I'd see what happens." Sirius said, clearly unaware that he had just broken everyone's perfect visions of their individual futures.

"Oh," Lily said softly, "Right." James hugged her tightly. Everything was silent for a moment, apart from Sirius munching on his chocolates.

"Would you care to share?" Peter asked irritably.

"Nope," Sirius said, his grin clearly heard in his voice.

"Five minutes to 1978!" Remus announced, "Should we set off Filibuster's now?"

"Allow me!" Sirius said, tossing his packet aside and groping for the firework-filled one. He lit the ends with his wand and then threw them into the air, everyone watching as they exploded into shapes and words. Greens, pinks, silvers and reds danced in front of James eyes.

"Thanks Lily, these are actually, er, pretty amazing," Sirius said, an obvious reference to his less than enthusiastic reaction to Lily's present from Christmas.

"No problem," she said, watching the fireworks spiral and spark.

"Twenty seconds!" Remus said and everyone stood up and leaned over the edge of the rooftop balcony and they could hear people in the houses around them counting down.

_"Nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, sixteen, fifteen..."_

"Fourteen," Lily said under her breath and James hugged her from behind, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Thirteen," he whispered.

_"Twelve, eleven..."_

And then all the Marauders started counting down, "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!"

Fireworks erupted in the sky, "Six! Five! Four! Three!" the colours dazzling and shimmering before their eyes, "Two!"  
_This has been the best year, _James thought.

"ONE!"

A huge array of fireworks shot upwards and even more erupted, Lily turned around and, saying "Happy New Year!" James lifted her off her feet and kissed her. A soft, but meaningful kiss filled with promises of happiness and love, Lily returned it and they stood, with their arms wrapped around each other, kissing amongst the sparkling fireworks and stars, in the cold January air of 1978.


	9. Sombre

**A/N: **Guys, I'm being serious now, please please please review if you like the chapters. I hate to have to say this but I'm feeling no confidence whatsoever in this story and I'm not even feeling the urge to write it any more.

* * *

"I'm not looking forward to this," James said, looking out the window of the Hogwarts Express at the far more lively greenery as the train sped along.

"I'm not sure that anyone is," Lily sighed, her elbow was rested on the window ledge, her chin propped up in her hand.

"But it will be okay!" Peter tried to reassure them, "It'll be safer and we get to see everyone."

"I'm not so sure that Hogwarts is ever going to be entirely safe again," Lily admitted. It was the 15th of January, after approximately a month at the Potter Manor, everyone was feeling the forming of cabin fever, but, as Lily had heard in their conversations at dinner, they preferred being stuck in the house to going back to Hogwarts where safety was just about as indefinite as the outcome of the war. Even her birthday celebrations several days ago had been somewhat solemn and James' present to her, a bar of chocolate, was lacking his usual exuberance.

James gave her a small, smile now, his glasses reflected palely, temporarily whiting out his eyes. But Lily didn't need to see his eyes to know that his smile didn't reach it. Genuine smiles were hard to come by lately. Just another result of the war. Although Lily did have to admit to herself that the smirks and sly grins plastered to most of the Slytherins' faces were, unfortunately, the closest thing to truthful, at least, in their case.

She looked at the sky as it got darker and noticing the absence of stars she spoke. "What's wrong with the sky?"

James glanced up and sighed, "It's all the protective charms," he said, "The starlight bounces off them. We must be very close." Lily looked out the window and noted that their surroundings did look familiar, but the usual "Hogsmeade" sign wasn't there. _Probably another safety measure_ she thought as she pulled her Gryffindor robes up around her shoulders. The train slowed and eventually stopped and everyone queued off and got onto the horseless carriages.

As they approached the castle, the sky seemed to get blacker and blacker, looking eerily empty without stars. The carriages were halted at the gates and everyone dismounted and proceeded to be subjected to a rigorous search, pockets emptied, shoes checked and various detection spells passed over them before they were cleared for entry into the grounds in which they were led, by four heavily armed security trolls to the entrance.

"Blimey," Sirius said, his eyes watering from the odour of the trolls.

"Rather pungent," Remus noted, pinching his nose.

The Feast was not nearly as enthusiastic and loud as it usually was. The teachers sat at the front, looking solemnly at their potatoes and chicken and the houses spoke in hushed voices. This excluded, of course, Slytherin who spoke with their usual if not heightened volume and exchanged happy chatter.

"Well, this is great," James said, stabbing a mushroom with his fork.

"Yeah," Lily said. Everything had seemed almost bearable at the Manor, apart from the last few days, they'd felt as though they were in a bubble, protected from the current happenings of their world. But now they could do nothing but face the sombre atmosphere and the multitude of protection enveloping the school. A definite sense of dread had filled the air, almost as though everyone had their own, personal Dementor, staying with them and constantly reminding them to abandon all hope.

"I'm sure you have all noticed the added security measures we have taken," Dumbledore began his announcements, "Hogsmeade trips have been cancelled for the remainder of the year and the school is not to be left under any circumstances. Students going to Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology will be accompanied by teachers and all Quidditch practices will be strictly chaperoned."

"At least they haven't done away with that," James wondered aloud, his voice filled with relief.

"Everyone off to bed then! Classes start tomorrow, goodnight!" Dumbledore finished cheerfully and waved them off.

"Thank God," Lily said, "I'm exhausted." She was just getting up as Professor McGonagall made a beeline for them.

"Potter, Evans you're on patrol for the first two hours," she told them. Lily felt her shoulders slump and she pulled downwards on her robes in annoyance as their head of house hurried off.

"Come on, love," James sighed, snaking an arm around Lily's waist and steering her out the opposite side of the hall, in the direction of the prefect's corridor.

"Being Head Girl is not all it's cracked up to be," Lily muttered, taking James' hand. They spent the first part of the night walking up and down the corridors checking for students who weren't there, all of them having gone to their common room's, no discernible interest in trouble making for the evening.

At about 9:30PM, James and Lily were seated on the cold floor, leaning against the wall of the second corridor, their hands intertwined as they sat in silence.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this," James spoke, rubbing Lily's hand with his thumb.

"You're going through it too," Lily told him, frowning.

"Yeah but," James sighed, "I mean you discover that you're part of this whole different world and then you have to deal with a whole, bloody war and it's just, it's not fair."

"A lot of things aren't fair," Lily replied, "But if I had to be a part of the Wizarding World, I would choose now; I can fight, I can try and make it a better future." James watched her, a smile forming on his lips.

"I've never met anyone as selfless as you," he told her, cupping her cheek with his other hand.

"Keep saying things like that, Potter," Lily muttered under her breath, but she smiled and mussed up his hair.

* * *

"I expect nothing but your undivided, constant attention," Professor Flitwick told the Charms class, the very first lesson of January, "N.E.W.T.s are in three months, and believe me, you need all the practice you can get." He then set them to work, trying to charm the socks off of kittens.

Lily flicked her wand, expecting nothing but was surprised as her kitten's white paw turned black, like the rest of its fur. "Oh," she said happily, smiling in spite of the fact that James had already turned his kitten completely black and was now scratching its ears.

"I want to keep him," he announced as the kitten mewed and licked his finger.

"Please do," Flitwick appeared at his desk, his head reaching only the table top, his voice had a somewhat strained sound to it, "They're everywhere, we use too many kittens for work." He hurried away, leaving James and Lily laughing in his wake.

"For God's sake!" Sirius interrupted their small burst of happiness; his ginger kitten was trying to bite the end of his wand and it still had small white paws. "Argh!" he exclaimed as purple sparks shot out of it and turned the cat's ears into rabbit's ears.

"Cats and dogs don't mix," Remus grinned at Sirius, his own kitten sitting on his shoulder.

"Says the wolf," Sirius muttered and accidentally turned the cat's paws a violent shade of red. "There, I'm done, he looks cool." Peter sat beside him, biting his lip and looking worriedly at the tiny cat hunched in the corner of his desk.

"You can't be serious," Sirius muttered, surveying the scene out of disbelieving eyes.

"It's just so...look at it! It's terrifying," Peter whispered, watching the purring kitten with a look of pure fear filling his eyes.

"Blimey, mate, get it together," James said as Peter waved his wand meekly and the kitten lost its socks.

"There! I'm done! Take it away!"

Lily rolled her eyes and scooped up the kitten and took it back to the box at the front. "You're not keeping it?" James asked defensively upon her return. He was holding his kitten protectively in his hands.

"I already have an owl, remember?" she said, scribbling down the results of the charm on a piece of parchment. James held the kitten up to his face and whispered inaudible words to it. Lily shook her head, grinning at her boyfriend's oddness.

The rest of the day consisted of many more warnings about the approaching tests, one from each teacher. James carried his kitten around with him in his pocket as he and Lily walked hand in hand through the corridor to their last lesson: Potions with the Slytherins.

"Mr Potter! Miss Evans, please, please come in," Professor Slughorn greeted his favourite students despite their lateness. Lily sat down beside Amalthea and pulled her cauldron onto the table.

"What have you been up to?" Amalthea whispered, winking knowingly. Lily rolled her eyes and waved her off, opening her Potions book as Slughorn finished his tests warning and told them to brew Weather Changing Potions.

"Mr Potter, it appears there is a...cat in your robes," Slughorn said, observing him through his glasses as he passed him.

"This is Plum," James told him as the cat stared up at it's audience which included Verna Adams, a fellow seventh year Gryffindor who sat across from James and Sirius. Lily glared at her, Verna had always had a rather obvious crush on James, in no way lessened by James' current relationship status. Lily knew she wasn't one to get jealous but she'd almost lost her head when she'd seen that the girl had gone and dyed her hair bright red over the break.

James, oblivious to the looks of admiration from Verna and Lily's scowls at her, set up his Potions kit and started adding ingredients to his cauldron, smiling in delight as as small, puffy white clouds appeared over the mixture.

Lily's cloud were already raining into her own cauldron as she did her best to ignore her boyfriend's admirer and focused on her Potion.

"Sirius asked me out," Amalthea said suddenly as the sound of wind echoed out of her cauldron.

"What?" Lily exclaimed, almost dropping her teaspoon of Jewelled Bugs.

"Yep," Amalthea admitted, "Last night."

"What-And you only told me now?" Lily stared at her best friend. Sirius had never appeared to be interested in being in a real relationship and seemed to prefer Broom Closet flings and night-time adventures with girls from other houses.

"Well, I was pretty shocked," Amalthea replied.

"Ha! For good reason! Was he, was he being serious?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, he's always Sirius."

"Wait, what?" Lily wrinkled her nose at her friend's stupid pun. Amalthea laughed and tossed Foxwither feathers into her cauldron.

"Well, yeah, I mean he was," she said, "I think he honestly wants to be with me." Lily saw her smile proudly to herself.

"You talking about me?" Sirius appeared in front of the table, grinning lazily.

"No-"

"Yep." Amalthea cut her off and Lily gave her a confused look.

"Ah lovely then, have you decided yet? Not going to pull an Evans are you?" Sirius asked, winking at Lily.

"Alright, yes, but you're being weird," Amalthea agreed to go out with him. Sirius smiled, a different smile from his usual mischievous grins and winking.

"Great!" he said, "But I don't like, fancy you or anything." he added.

"Shut up," Amalthea shoved him, grinning and Lily's confusion increased. "What?" Amalthea asked as Sirius bounded off.

"You're a strange couple."

"Oh that?" Amalthea indicated Sirius who was now staring into an empty cauldron. "Yeah, he asked me out. He didn't announce his undying love for me."

"Right...well I hope you work out..." Lily replied still confused.

"Just because he didn't wander around after me, like a lovesick Potter doesn't mean he doesn't fancy me."

"Uh, yeah, okay," Lily said, she supposed she had grown so used to James' obvious feelings for her that she couldn't imagine someone not being so outright with their affection.

Amalthea stuck out her tongue at her friend as a mini tornado started in her cauldron.

* * *

The Order of the Phoenix sat together in a room far south from Hogwarts. It was just the adults, not a teenage student in sight as they discussed the latest tragedy in whispered bits and pieces.

"The Potters,"

"Killed, but-"

"Can't tell James,"

Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat, waiting for silence. "As you have all heard," he began, "There was an attack on the Potters last night." Solemn nods all around the table. Dorcas Meadowes wiped a tear from her cheek and Alastor Moody cleared his throat. Dumbledore continued, "I am saddened to announce the deaths of Charlus and Dorea Potter. This is an irreplaceable loss, more so for their son, James Potter, as well as Sirius Black."

"We have decided," Moody said in his gruff voice, "That for the time being it would be best not to tell Potter or Black about their parents."

"What?" Aberforth Dumbledore demanded, glaring at his brother. "No, you can't do that! The boy deserves to know!"

"James will know," Dumbledore responded calmly, "At the proper time. He has undergone enough suffering for a while."

"So you're just going to pretend everything is fine?" Aberforth said harshly. "Why am I even surprised?" he asked himself and his brother gave him a long, sad look but said nothing.

"The decision is final," Moody said over the brothers' apparent tension. Dumbledore nodded.

"It is with regret that we make it but for now it is all we can do."

"Funny," Aberforth said under his breath as everyone started discussing the news, Dumbledore glanced at him again, "It seems that there's always only one thing to do." Dumbledore looked away as his brother continued to observe him, angrily, doing his best to remind him of the worst mistakes of his life.


	10. Liquid Luck

**A/N:** Everyone calm the farm, I'm not going to stop writing, I just needed to take a short hiatus because putting so much effort and passion into a peace of work and not getting much in return leaves me pretty gutted. But I'm feeling up to it and I do want to get my ideas out so, here's chapter 10.

Enjoy.

* * *

The next few weeks were relatively uneventful and Hogwarts was pretty ordinary if you ignored the fact that it was impossible to see the sun, stars or moon and there was an impenetrable wall surrounding the school that seemed to hum and throb all through January into February.  
Lily was spending most of her time perfecting her Charms work, sneaking into corners with James for second-long moments and being kept strictly up to date with every detail of Amalthea and Sirius' relationship; in all its oddness and ridiculously sexual nature.

"...And there's this spot right on my neck where he-"

"Thank you, I get it," Lily blurted quickly as her friend's latest recounting of adventurous trips to broom cupboards started getting more and more explicit. Amalthea sighed and tossed herself onto her canopy bed, staring dreamily at the ceiling.  
"He's just..."  
"Uh huh," Lily grunted as she scanned her Charms notes.  
"And he really knows what he's doing."  
Lily set her notes down and looked at her friend, frowning slightly, "I assume you know how he got that way?"  
"Oh shush!" Amalthea grumbled hastily and chucked a small pillow at the redhead who was now snickering and rustling her notes.  
"I know, I know," Lily said, "You're happy together, it's weird but it's sweet."  
"If there's one thing it's not, it's sweet," Amalthea said pointedly and Lily shrieked with laughter and threw the pillow back at her friend.

* * *

"So..." James pressed his friend who was intently focussed on a thick book, "How's it going?"

"Fine," Sirius said, staring blindly at the lines of writing.

"Care to use a more informative adjective or...?"

"I'm okay, thanks," Sirius sighed.

James grumbled and then said loudly, "What's your case Padfoot? You used to love telling us everything about you and your latest bird..."

Sirius set down his book with a loud _thwump _and glared at James, "She's not just my latest bird, Prongs,"

"Ooh..." Peter said with a sing song voice.

"Shut it," Sirius snapped, "That's what I'm worried about."

"That you actually care about a girl as though she were a human being with feelings and thoughts?" Remus guessed from behind a thick book he was actually reading.

"It's just-it's not me," Sirius mumbled.

"Is that a bad thing?" James asked.

"Yes," Sirius replied, "God, I'm turning into you, Prongs."

"Most people would consider themselves lucky to be me," James replied with an air of unrivalled modesty.

"Wouldn't they just," Sirius said flatly, "I don't settle, I'm not a settler, I'm a-"

"Hunter-gatherer?" Remus tried.

"No-What?" Sirius stared at his friend with an expression of deepest concern.

"Nothing."

"Anyway, I like Amalthea, she's pretty fit and rather, well, talented if you know what I mean," Sirius winked and the Marauders uttered a collective groan, "But, I don't know, I feel like I'm making a mistake."

"Bollocks," James replied simply.

"Christ, what?" Sirius demanded.

"If you like her then you're not making a mistake," he told him, "Stop worrying." Peter nodded along with James' words of enlightenment and Remus smiled slightly.

"You think?"

"I know," James said.

"Well...good then," Sirius replied, reopening his book.

"Better but you could use a thesaurus," said James.

"Sod off."

* * *

"Please, please, please, please..." James pleaded with Lily as they walked along the corridor to Transfiguration.

"No," Lily said with a finality that was being well and properly ignored by her boyfriend. He and his friends had found a Sixth Year who had been working on a cauldron of Felix Felicis for the past half a year and now that it was ready, phials of it were being sold at 5 Galleons a piece.

"What if he made it wrong?" Lily asked him seriously, "Do you have any idea how bad the consequences of incorrectly made Liquid Luck can be."

"Oh please, of course I do," James assured her, "We've all read the paragraph in Advanced Potion Making."

Lily rolled her eyes, "It's not-It doesn't matter, it's dangerous."

"If something happens I will take full responsibility and go directly to Madam Pomfrey," James promised her.

"Oh really, and you're going to tell her exactly what you did?" Lily countered.

"Yes," James lied. Lily narrowed her eyes, seeing right through him, but obviously tired of the conversation, her response changed.

"You know what, fine, do it, but don't come running to me if you die," she told him, defeated.

"Yes!" James punched the air and then kissed Lily's head.

"I still don't understand why you would want to take it," Lily wondered.

"Things are just so glum around here and well, with NEWTs coming up we could all use a pick-me-up. I could get you a phial if you want?"

"No, thank you," Lily said as they arrived at the door to the classroom. James dropped a quick kiss on her lips, winked and opened the door.

"It'll work out, I swear, the kid who made it is a Ravenclaw," he whispered as they sat down at their desks.

* * *

"It should last for two hours," James said as he sat with the rest of the Marauders, Lily and Amalthea in the boys' dormitory. It was Friday evening, two days after he had gotten permission to buy and consume the Liquid Luck from the Sixth Year. There were only four people in the room who had decided to take the potion and Lily and Remus sat with their arms crossed, watching as James, Sirius, Amalthea and Peter held the phials up to their lips and swigged.

"How do you feel?" Lily asked her boyfriend as he set the empty bottle aside and rubbed his hands together.

"Normal," Sirius replied for him and glanced at Amalthea who was biting her lip and tugging on a strand of her black hair.

"It's probably bollocks," Lily sighed as she looked at Remus and they both shook their heads.

"How did it taste?" Remus asked.

"Like water," Amalthea said, wiping her mouth with her hand.

"Oh, sweetheart," Lily said as she mussed up James hair and he closed his eyes, "You just paid 5 Galleons for water." He grumbled and then lay back, putting his head in Lily's lap, his eyes still closed.

"Well, this was boring," Amalthea said lightly and hopped off of Sirius's bed, she took hold of his hand and pulled him up, "See you later," she told the room and led Sirius away.

Peter mumbled something inaudible and got into bed, although he seemed somewhat relieved as he had been almost pressured into buying the potion and hadn't seemed at all keen on the idea.

"Well, I'm off to the library," Remus said, getting up and pulling his bag strap onto his shoulder.

"Peter? You want to head off to the library as well," James asked the lump of covers which replied with a muffled 'No'. "Are you sure?"

Peter groaned, "Fine!" He pulled himself out of the bed and trumped off out the door.

"Ah, alone at last," James sighed, smiling up at Lily who leaned down and kissed him. He reached up and held her head with his hands and her hair hung around them like a red curtain.  
James sat up and turned to face Lily, her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks were softly red. He brushed one of them with his fingers and then pulled her towards him so that they were kissing, uninterrupted by reversed positions. Lily wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled her fingers through his hair. He bit her top lip and she shuddered slightly and ran her hands over his toned back. James' hands made their way to the small of her back and then started pulling at the base of her shirt, trying to take it off. Lily stopped kissing him for a moment and lifted her arms up so that he could pull the shirt over her head.  
James kissed her neck and she closed her eyes, revelling in the moment.  
"I want you," he whispered against her shoulder.  
"Oh my God."  
"I know," he sighed.  
"No-Oh my GOD!" Lily said and burst out laughing. James sat upright and stared at his girlfriend who was now shrieking with laughter and holding her stomach.  
"What?" he asked, worriedly.  
"Go-look-in-the-mirror!" she gasped, tears of laughter forming in her eyes. James tumbled off the bed and skidded into the bathroom, he turned on the lamp with a flick of his wand and saw, with horror, his reflection. He looked perfectly normal apart from the tiny misappropriation that his hair had vanished. He was completely bald, his scalp reflecting the flickering light. He sidled back into the dormitory where Lily was now lying flat on the bed, wiping tears from her eyes, her body still shaking slightly from laughter.

"Wh-What?" James uttered, unsure of what to say or do.  
"Let's go Felix!" Lily clapped her hands and pulled her shirt back on, "It's probably a side-affect of the crappy potion."  
"But..."  
"I can try and fix it for you, but I warned you? Didn't I warn you? Yes, I warned you. But did you listen? No you did not. Because you're an idiot and I'm smart and I'm going to fix it just to see if I can." Lily shook her head and pulling out her wand she waved it and said some spell that James was too shell-shocked to hear or care about. He felt an odd sensation on the surface of his head, it itched and when he lifted his hand to scratch it he found, with immense relief, that his soft, messy locks of hair had been completely regrown.

"I can't wait to see what happens next," Lily said just as Amalthea burst into the room.

"Come quick, it's Sirius! He's in the Hospital Wing!" Lily and James shared a quick, worried glance and leapt up, following her all the way to Hospital Wing.

Sirius lay, looking simply as though he were sleeping, in a bed with the curtains drawn.

"Did you tell Madam Pomfrey everything?" Lily asked Amalthea, putting her hand on her shoulder as her friend sobbed softly.

"Yes," Amalthea said between her sobs.

"And?" James pressed her, watching his own friend and feeling as though he could cry himself.

"He'll-He'll be okay," Amalthea hiccoughed, "She said it would just last for a week, like a strong sleeping potion."

"Oh," James said and let out a sigh of relief, "So why are you crying?"

"No!" Lily whispered quickly, giving him a scathing look and shaking her head, but it was too late, James had already made the mistake.

"Why am I crying?" Amalthea asked in a dangerously low voice.

"Oh God, here we go," Lily's eyes widened and she stepped back.

"I am crying," Amalthea continued, eyeing James with stony contempt, "Because I was in the middle of a snog with my boyfriend when he fell to the floor and for no less than 10 of the following minutes, I thought he was dead!"

"Um..." James mumbled, looking at Lily questioningly for help.

"So I am sorry if my feelings of fear and shock and horror decided to escape me in the form of a couple of tears! When you run your hands through that bloody hair of yours does anyone give you crap about it?"

"How does that even-" James began.

"That's not the point! I'm allowed to cry if I want to!"

"I didn't say you weren't..." James tried.

"You are on dangerously thin ice, Potter," Amalthea glared at him.

"Okay...," James stared wide-eyed at the girl in front of him, "I'm sorry?"

"Fine," she huffed and plopped herself back down onto Sirius' bed.

"We're just going to leave you to it," Lily said patting her friend's head and pulling James out of the wing.

"What was that all about?" James asked her as they made their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Amalthea doesn't cry very much and when she does she gets really embarrassed about it."

"Oh..." James tried to understand what that meant but decided to agree that he had made a mistake instead of confusing himself further, "But what did my hair have to do with it."

"Just don't," Lily sighed, linking her arm with his. They walked along in silence for a while and then suddenly, for the second time that night, Lily erupted into peals of laughter. James stared at her wide-eyed again, wondering what had happened this time...Had he lost his nose? Where is ears blue? He opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was an odd sort of guffaw.

"Oh my deer!" Lily laughed and James realised that he had turned into his Animagus; a Stag. He felt his tail and flicked it angrily and stared at Lily reproachfully, trying mentally to ask her to try and turn him back. "I'm not turning you back," Lily giggled and closed a hand around on of his antlers. James harrumphed angrily and shoved her with his nose. "Would you like to carry me back?" she asked and he shook his hand furiously as Lily climbed onto his back. James stood perfectly still, refusing to move.

"What on _earth?_" Professor McGonagall was standing in her tartan dressing gown, regarding the scene with an expression of pure disbelief.

"Oh no," Lily mumbled, sliding off the stag's back.

"Is that-Is that Potter?" McGonagall demanded pointing a shaking hand at the deer. Lily nodded slightly, looking down. McGonagall held up both her hands and shook her head, "I don't even want to know," She pulled out her wand and flicked it at James who turned back into himself. "I'll deal with this in the morning, right now, off to bed, the both of you." James and Lily linked hands and walked away as quickly as they could. "And not the same one!" McGonagall called after them and they both heaved with laughter.

* * *

"What a night," Peter said the following morning, staring into his mug of tea.

"Mmm," James muttered giving Lily a firm 'No telling' look which she rolled her eyes at.

"What happened to you?" Lily asked Peter.

"Well, I'm not really sure, to be honest," Peter said wonderingly, "I don't remember and all I do is that at one point everything I touched turned to cheese, I think."

"Have you all learned your lessons then?" Lily looked imploringly at James, Peter and Amalthea who had remained incredibly quiet during the whole morning and was looking, wide-eyed at her fried egg.

"And you?" Lily asked her friend.

"What-Nothing," Amalthea said too quickly, looking around. Everyone watched her and lifted their eyebrows. "I won't say," she told them, sticking her nose in the air and looking away.

"I can make you," Lily said.

"I'd like to see that," James admitted and Peter nodded while Remus rolled his eyes.

"How's Sirius?" Remus asked Amalthea and she nodded, happy for the change of subject.

"He's okay, Madam Pomfrey said there really wasn't anything to worry about," Amalthea replied contentedly.

"Lily Evans? James Potter?" A Second Year came up behind them clutching two pieces of paper.

"Here, thank you," Lily took the paper and her shoulders slumped, "It's McGonagall, she gave us detention."

"That's something I haven't heard in a while," James said, reading his piece of paper. "What time is yours?"

"Three."

"Damn, I'm four," James replied dismayed.

"What's that for?" Amalthea asked, frowning.

"Nothing," James and Lily replied in unison.

"Yeah, if you won't tell, we won't tell," James told her. Amalthea tensed and looked down.

"It can't be that bad," Lily said, trying to be reassuring.

"Not talking," Amalthea said. Lily chucked a piece of toast at her and was received with a particularly oily piece of bacon thrown right back.

"Food fight!" James yelled.

"No," Remus said as someone threw a mushroom at him. The three Marauders, Lily and Amalthea spent the rest of breakfast laughing and throwing food at each other, blissfully unaware, as teenagers should be, as to just how bad the war raging beyond the walls of Hogwarts was.


	11. Revenge

The next month, things took a turn for the worse. Several Sixth Years decided to sneak out of one of the secret passage ways of Hogwarts and go to Hogsmeade. It had been a stupid decision made by foolish teenagers and they paid the ultimate price. A couple of Death Eaters had chanced across their path and killed them, quickly, easily. Four distinct, loud alarms had sounded from different points around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, waking everyone in the earliest hours of the morning to the cruel, unforgiving reality of the war.

James and Lily had been sleeping together, in the Boy's dormitory, arms wrapped around each other, when the sirens wailed on that cold morning in late February.  
"Wh-" James grumbled groggily. Realising what was happening, Lily jumped up, out of bed and started yelling.  
"Everyone get up!" she cried, shoving James, "Those are the sirens for Merlin's Sake! We have to get up and out!" She wrapped a nightgown around herself and threw open the door as James, Sirius, Remus and Peter lumbered out after her, slower than she would have liked. An emergency of this sort had never happened while she had been at Hogwarts, but now, almost as though accidents were making up for their lack of presence, there had been two in Seventh Year alone.

_"All students to make their way to the Great Hall immediately," _McGonagall's shrill, shaking voice was amplified by the speaker. Lily couldn't imagine her head of house being scared and the fact that she was now instilled a chilling, gut-wrenching fear in her.

"Amalthea!" she called as she saw her friend hurrying down the stairs ahead of her.

"Hey!" she said through a clenched jaw, her face was pale and she had her arms wrapped around herself.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked, "Are you going to have an attack?" she said more quietly. Amalthea suffered from severe anxiety and was prone to panic attacks. Amalthea shook her head in reply but kept her eyes trained on the ground.

"Amy," Sirius appeared on Amalthea other side and looked at her worriedly, "Are you okay?" Lily slowed down enough as she got to the Entrance Hall so that James could catch up with her. He took her hand and they walked silently, with the rest of the school.

The sight that awaited them was even more disconcerting. Teachers were grouped in corners, dressed in nightgowns and caps, conversing hurriedly and quietly, several occasionally clapping hands to their mouths. Dumbledore was nowhere in sight and Lily felt James grip her hand more tightly as he noticed the Headmaster's absence.

"I'm sure nothing happened to him," Lily whispered as they sat down.

"Please quiet down," came McGonagall's amplified voice. She was standing at the front of the hall, twisting her wand anxiously in her hands, her hair bedraggled and unkempt. The already significantly quiet students stood still and all the teachers quietened.

"It is with deepest regret that I call you all here," she said, her voice shaking, "An hour ago, four Sixth Years managed to get out of the school and made their way into Hogsmeade-" she suppressed a sob, "where they ran into two Death Eaters." There were audible gasps from the students and a Sixth year girl burst into tears. "They were killed," McGonagall said and covered her mouth with her hand.

Seeing that she was unable to continue, Professor Sprout took McGonagall's place, "Their parents have been called and a funeral will be held tomorrow, in the grounds," she said sadly, "We have people available if anyone needs to talk to someone." she added. Taking it as the end of the announcement, everyone got up and started to leave just as Professor Dumbledore hurried in, his robes fluttering at his feet. Everyone stopped and noticing this he said "Continue please," with no hint of his usual bubbly self. Lily saw him spot James in the crowd of students and make a beeline for them.

"James, Sirius," he said and Lily heard a deep sadness behind his voice, "If you could please make your way to my office with me."

"What? Why?" James asked sounding panicked.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Sirius asked, grabbing James' shoulder. Dumbledore indicated the direction of his office and started walking away.

"I'll come with, come on," Lily said and pulled James away, following Dumbledore. Lily, James and Sirius followed Dumbledore quietly through the winding passages and up all the staircases until they reached the Griffin gargoyle door leading to the headmaster's office.

"Lily, I must ask you to wait outside if you please," Dumbledore said and James, who saw the man was in no state to argue simply gave Lily a wide-eyed look, kissed her on the cheek and followed Sirius and Dumbledore into the staircase. Lily sat herself on the cold, tiled floor and leant against the stone floors with her eyes closed, her mind racing with horrible possibilities of what could've happened. It had been a constant thought, among the three of them that something had happened to Mr and Mrs Potter but none of them had dared to ask.

Almost half an hour later, the grinding concrete of the rotating gargoyle alerted Lily and woke her out of her half asleep daze. Amalthea had joined her several minutes into her waiting and they shared a quick, worried look. Leaping up, Lily caught sight of James and Sirius. They had matching expressions, pale faces and set jaws. James' hair was more mussed up than usual and as he reached the ground floor, he walked forward, unspeaking and stood in front of Lily. His state confirmed her thoughts and she clapped a hand to her mouth, tears spiking in her eyes.

"They're-" James' voice caught and he covered his face with his hands. Lily wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his neck. He inhaled, a sharp, raggedy breath and let out a sob.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and heard vaguely Amalthea speaking softly to Sirius as they walked away, her arms wrapped around his waist, looking almost as though she was supporting him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." They stood for a while, both too shocked to speak. Too shocked to do anything really, other than cry and hold each other. Eventually, Lily led James to her earlier seating spot and they sat together, Lily with her arms around James who told her quietly about what had happened. As the golden rays of sun pierced the cold morning air, James fell asleep and Lily stayed with him, stroking his hair and holding him. Everything was quiet and seemed almost bearable, until they showed up.

Snape, Mulciber, Avery and their gang of Slytherin friends walking along, yelling and laughing. At the sight of James and Lily they all started sneering, Snape giving them a particularly nasty glare, and shouting at them. They stopped and stood in front of them, several of them pulling their wands out.

"Now is not the time," Lily said, coldly, glaring up at them.

"Now is always the time, Mudblood," Mulciber spat and shot a curse at her. Lily felt her throat constrict as James whipped out his wand and threw a hex with such ferocity that Mulciber and two of his friends nearest to him were thrown to the ground.

"_Finite Incantatem," _he pointed his wand at Lily who immediately felt her lungs fill with air and she pulled out her own wand, readying it in anticipation.

Snape pointed his wand at James, "_Sectum-" _

"_Protego!" _Lily shrieked. She knew exactly which curse Snape was about to cast and she also knew that cast correctly, as it definitely would be by its creator, it could kill.

"How _dare _you!" she uttered, staring at him demandingly. He smirked and shrugged and Lily felt her anger reach its peak. With as much force as she could muster she waved her wand and shouted "_Stupefy!_" The spell had been cast with so much power that it came out with, instead of its usual bright red sparks, dark, maroon bolts. It hit Snape squarely in the chest and he was thrown backwards, unconscious into the wall opposite them. The rest of the gang hurriedly stuffed their wands away and Mulciber took hold of Snape's shoulders and pulled him away as they all left shouting warnings as they left. Lily turned to see what had made them submit and saw Dumbledore standing in front of his door.

"Professor, I-" Lily began.

"Do not worry," he said, his voice still devoid of sparkle, "I'm well aware of what just happened."

"Can't you do something?" James asked angrily, thrusting his wand into his robes.

"That is something I am not at liberty to discuss," he told him, "However you may be pleased to know that they are leaving."

"Fine," James said and walked away.

"They're leaving?" she asked.

"Indeed, they alerted me to the matter several hours ago," he told her, "They shall be gone by tonight."

Lily looked wonderingly at a sadly nodding Dumbledore and hurried away to follow James, having to jog to keep up with him.

"This is all shit," James spat.

"I know," Lily said, folding her arms.

"He's weak! That's his problem, he talks up a storm about protecting us and keeping us all safe, but in the end they get us anyway. He doesn't even realise that part of the problem is inside the school."

"They're leaving though! You heard what he said," Lily tried to console him.

"What?" James stopped.

"Didn't you hear?" Lily asked.

"What-No, what do you mean they're leaving?" he pressed.

"He said that they're leaving today," she told him.

"Oh," he said, "Well then...good."

"Yeah."

"So..."

"Yeah..." They looked at each other for a minute without speaking.

"What now?" James asked Lily and she knew that he was asking for more than she could answer. He was asking what was going to happen now that his parents were dead, what the war would hold. He was questioning the unknown and at this current point in time, Lily regretted that she had no answers for him. So she answered as though he was simply asking what they would do next.

"Now we go eat," she told him, she was going to do her best to help him through through the day, "Then we're going to go to the funeral."

"Okay," James said, nodding. He looked lost, like a child who needed his parents. Lily had never seen him look so small before and it scared her. She took his hand and they walked, slowly to breakfast.

* * *

**6:00PM that same day**

"Well, that was fun," Sirius said, grimly as they all sat down in the Gryffindor Common Room. James loosened his tie. He hadn't spoken much that day. He hadn't had much he wanted to say. His mind was torn between unbelievable grief for the loss of his parents and complete anger shared between Dumbledore and the Seventh Year Slytherins. They had organised it so that their departure from the Grounds coincided perfectly with the funeral. They had put on a performance as they left; laughing and mocking at sneering at the rest of the school and the students' parents, 4 pairs of them who already being in tears seemed completely insulted.

"Can we just..." Remus started but trailed off.

"What is it?" Lily asked him.

"No, nothing," he replied.

"Tell us," Lily said encouragingly.

"Can we just swear that we're going to get them back. Get revenge," Remus said loudly.

"Yes," James agreed, watching his best friend who had a look of determination defining his features, "Yes, we're going to get them all back, or we'll die trying."

And it was with silent looks of agreement that James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily and Amalthea discovered properly and irreversibly that the war had begun.


End file.
